How brokers and exchanges work to execute your trades.
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Brokers help you access exchanges. In order to invest in the stock market, you’ll need a broker to get your orders to the stock exchange. The same goes if you want to trade on the futures market or buy and sell options—the broker is your intermediary.
Traditional exchanges are similar to what you might see on business TV—people standing on a trading floor—but securities and derivatives also trade in other venues that are nothing like the shouting matches of yesteryear. Together, brokers and exchanges facilitate activity in modern financial markets.
Key Points
- Brokers are your connection to exchanges; they help get your trades filled.
- In addition to exchanges, there are several types of execution venues where brokers may send orders.
A broker is your connection to the markets. Much of the work they do to execute and fill your trades happens behind the scenes. Brokers must be licensed, and there are different types of brokers for different types of markets.
Stock brokers must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Futures market brokers must register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and be members of the National Futures Association (NFA). Options traders need to register with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and either the SEC or CFTC, depending on the markets they access.
SEC, CFTC, FINRA, NFA … What do all the letters mean?
Financial regulators and self-regulating organizations (SROs) are the “market police.” Learn more here.
You can choose either a discount broker or a full-service broker. These days, discount brokers are more popular with retail investors. Both types of brokers will buy and sell investments for their clients, but there are differences.
Discount stock brokers
- Trading is much cheaper with a discount broker. Many offer no-commission exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds. Some have zero trading fees depending on the investment vehicle.
- They may offer access to trading tools such as investment research or technical analysis.
- Depending on your account size, some discount brokers allow access to a financial advisor.
- These brokers often make money via payment for order flow or fees for upgraded service.
Full-service stock brokers
- Costs are higher, as clients pay a commission for trades.
- They offer a wide variety of services, including research, tax advice, and retirement and estate planning.
- They may offer access to difficult-to-reach investments such as IPO shares and foreign markets.
Some brokers offer an automated hybrid of a broker and financial advisor commonly known as a robo-advisor. They place your investment funds into one of several preset portfolios based on your answers to a survey regarding your goals, objectives, and risk tolerance.
Whether your orders are handled by a discount, full-service, or automated broker, they work on your behalf as the investor, and they must act in your best interest.
Filling orders in the futures markets
Futures markets are different from stock markets; they list commodities and derivatives. The licensing is also different, as are the regulators, so there are different types of brokers and trade intermediaries in these markets.
- Futures commission merchants (FCMs). FCMs accept or solicit orders to buy or sell a variety of derivatives, including futures contracts, options on futures, retail off-exchange forex contracts, or swaps. FCMs can take money or other assets from customers to support such orders.
- Commodity pool operators (CPO). An individual or organization that operates a commodity pool and solicits funds for it. Pools combine funds from different people to trade derivatives or invest in another pool.
- Commodity trading advisors (CTA). These people give advice to others, directly or indirectly, about buying or selling derivatives.
- Forex dealer members (FDM). A counterparty to an off-exchange, non-U.S. currency transaction with a party who is not an eligible contract participant.
- Introducing brokers (IB). These brokers are similar to FCMs, but do not hold customer funds. An IB acts as a trade intermediary, but has an agreement with one or more FCMs to actually hold the customer funds.
- Swap dealers (SD). An organization that acts as market maker or intermediary in swaps and other over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives.
What to know about exchanges and execution venues
Stock exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) are the best-known type of trading venue, and some orders may go to a traditional listed exchange to be filled. However, there are several ways a trade can be executed. Where a broker executes a trade may depend on the order size, market conditions, and the type of order.
Regulators require that brokers seek the best deals for their clients, which is why brokers will evaluate the best venue to execute a trade.
- Stock exchanges. Stock exchanges demonstrate pre-trade buying and selling interest and prices. When an order is routed to an exchange, the counterparty (i.e., the entity on the other side of the trade) may be a market maker, a specialist, or other type of market participant.
- Designated contract markets (DCMs). Futures and options trade on contract markets using standardized sizes for futures and strike prices for options. Cleared swap contracts trade on these markets. Market makers may also be involved in these venues.
- Over-the-counter (OTC) venues. Securities and derivatives that do not trade on listed exchanges will trade over the counter. Brokers may send orders for these investments to an OTC market maker.
- Internalizers. If the brokerage already owns stock shares, it will fill the order in house, using shares it already owns. Brokers may make a profit if there is a difference between the bid and ask spread.
- Electronic communications networks (ECNs). These systems automatically match buy and sell orders, quickly, and often at a more advantageous price than an exchange.
- Dark pools. These are alternative trading systems operated by a broker-dealer that may trade listed or unlisted stocks or fixed-income securities. Dark pools don’t publicly post pre-trade quotes the way a traditional exchange discloses trading interest, making them a venue of choice for large orders from fund managers, pensions, and other institutional clients.
Although brokers may route certain orders to certain venues for additional revenue, the SEC also requires them to disclose the quality of their trade execution. Brokers must report how orders are filled and at what prices compared to the publicly available bid and ask spread at the time. The SEC also mandates that brokers must disclose if their orders are not routed for the best execution.
Brokers play different roles depending on the types of services they offer. Brokers are a conduit to the markets, and they can use several types of trading venues to execute and fill a trade.
Order execution matters because filling an order at a higher or lower price will affect how much you pay to initiate a trade and how much you receive on a sale. Remember, though, in this age of high liquidity and active participation, we’re talking about a difference of pennies—or even fractions of pennies.
In other words, order execution quality is critical if you’re a short-term trader getting in or out of the market many times each day. But if you’re a long-term investor who holds positions for months or years, a penny or two on the way in or out is less important than choosing the right investments for your financial plan.
This article was most recently revised and updated by Debbie CarlsonThis article was most recently revised and updated by Doug Ashburn
