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OATS Announcements - Archive

OATS Educational Telephone Conference

FINRA will host an educational telephone conference and WebEx presentation on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 4:15 p.m., ET. Topics to be discussed include:

Email Retirement / IFT demonstration
New OATS Web Interface Demonstration
Guidance on Agency Orders
Question and answer session

View additional details, including how to register.

FINRA to Offer Customized OATS Training

Beginning in January 2009, FINRA staff will be offering customized training sessions to individual firms via telephone and WebEx demonstrations. Firms may schedule a one on one training session with FINRA OATS staff during which the staff will respond to the firm's questions related to OATS, provide information to the firm on the various OATS compliance resources available to members, and demonstrate specific resources such as the OATS web interface and the Compliance Report Cards that can be used to monitor for compliance with the OATS Rules. The staff will also offer OATS compliance and supervisory tips geared to the specific firm.

To register, please complete our online form. A limited number of sessions are available each month and firms will be scheduled on first come, first serve basis.

OATS Release Moved to February 2, 2009

In light of recent market events and other competing programming obligations currently facing members, FINRA is moving the November 10, 2008 OATS Release to February 2, 2009. The new scheduled CT date for the release is Monday, January 5, 2009.

OATS Reporting Phone-In Workshop On-Demand

This phone-in workshop provides updates about OATS, in particular, OATS for OTC-equity securities that became effective February 4, 2008. Panelists discuss common compliance issues and trends, highlight tools available to assist firms in supervision of OATS reporting and address the transition of OATS access through the Firm Gateway. The OATS Reporting Phone-In Workshop lasts approximately 75 minutes and its original, live air date was May 8, 2008.

Access Information

To access the recorded Phone-In Workshop, please dial the phone number provided.

Toll-Free Number within the U.S.: (800) 294-0997
Outside the U.S.: + (203) 369-3226

If you have questions regarding the Phone-In Workshop, please email us.

New OATS Reporting Deadline

Effective Monday, August 20, 2007, OATS reportable order events that occurred during a particular OATS business day must be reported to OATS by 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time the following calendar day. This new reporting deadline gives firms an additional hour, from the current 4:00 a.m. deadline, to submit OATS data. As of August 20, 2007, reports received after the new 5:00 a.m. deadline will be marked late. FINRA staff, however, encourages member firms and reporting entities to maintain their current internal OATS reporting schedules to ensure timely submission of data.

FINRA Rule Filing

Proposed Rule Change to Amend NASD Rule 6952 Relating to the Reporting of Foreign Equity Securities to the Order Audit Trail System (SR-FINRA-2007-001)

OATS Phase III

NASD has published two documents regarding the amended OATS reporting requirements and the implementation of OATS Phase III, which will be effective May 8, 2006. The first document is a Notice to Members providing background and interpretative guidance related to the recently approved amendments to the OATS Rules.

NASD has also updated the OATS Reporting Technical Specifications to include, among other things, technical enhancements required by the amendments to the OATS Rules. The changes to the OATS Reporting Technical Specifications will be effective May 8, 2006. Firms and OSOs may begin to test their codes for compliance with the system specifications, in the OATS Customer Testing (CT) environment, on March 27, 2006.

For more information on OATS Phase III please visit www.finra.org/oats/PhaseIII. Should you have any questions regarding OATS, please contact the OATS Helpdesk at (800) 321-6273.

SEC Request for Comments

On October 11, 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) noticed for comment SR-NASD-2005-101, which proposes to expand OATS reporting requirements to OTC equity securities. View the SEC's notice (Rel. 34-52581).

Those interested in commenting on the proposed changes should submit comments directly to the SEC, as described in the SEC's notice. The comment period will expire 21 days after publication of the proposal in the Federal Register, which is expected during the week of October 17, 2005. Rule filings are not effective until approved by the SEC. In addition, some rule filings may be followed by amendments that modify the original filing.

Please contact the OATS Helpdesk at (800) 321-6273 with any questions regarding OATS.

NASD Rule Filing Approval

On September 28, 2005, the SEC approved SR-NASD-00-23 relating to the OATS rules. As approved, the amendments (1) implement the OATS requirements for manual orders (OATS Phase 3); (2) provide that members are required to capture and report both the time the order is received by the member from the customer and the time the order is received by the member's trading desk or trading department, if those times are different; (3) exclude certain members from the definition of "Reporting Member" for those orders that meet specified conditions and are recorded and reported to OATS by another member; and (4) permit NASD to grant exemptive relief from the OATS reporting requirements in certain circumstances to members that meet specified criteria.

For more detailed information, members can view the SEC approval order.

In addition, NASD will provide additional information and guidance in a Notice to Members and updated OATS Reporting Technical Specifications both to be published shortly.

NASD Rule Filing
On September 14, 2005, NASD filed Amendment No. 3 to SR-NASD-00-23 with the SEC, the proposed rule change was originally filed with the SEC on April 19, 2000.

The purpose of Amendment No. 3 is to address the comment letters received by the SEC in response to the publication of the proposed rule change in the Federal Register and to propose amendments responsive to the comments where appropriate. If approved, the amendments to the OATS Rules proposed in SR-NASD-00-23 would: (1) provide that members are required to capture and report both the time the order is received by the member from the customer and the time the order is received by the member's trading desk or trading department, if those times are different; (2) exclude certain members from the definition of "Reporting Member" for those orders that meet specified conditions and are recorded and reported to OATS by another member; and (3) permit NASD to grant exemptive relief from the OATS reporting requirements in certain circumstances to members that meet specified criteria.

Please note that rule filings generally are not effective until approved by the SEC. Rule filings also may be followed by amendments that modify the original filing or prior filing thereto.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this proposal, please contact the OATS Helpdesk at (800) 321-6273.

OATS Survey
As previously announced, the Market Regulation Department of NASD is conducting a review of members' supervisory systems as they relate to the OATS Rules. In this regard, all member firms currently submitting OATS data, either on their own behalf or via another party, were requested pursuant to NASD Procedural Rule 8210 to complete an online survey concerning their OATS supervisory system by July 15, 2005. After August 12, 2005, the questionnaire will no longer be available on the OATS Web site. NASD may initiate disciplinary proceedings against any firm that failed to submit a completed survey.

Each firm must access the survey through the secure OATS Web Interface. Access to the OATS Web Interface requires an OATS UserID and password. If you have not yet established and received an OATS UserID and password, you may request one through the OATS Helpdesk according to the instructions on our site.

Should you have any questions when applying for a User ID and password or when accessing the supervisory survey, please contact the OATS Helpdesk at (800) 321-6273.

If you have questions regarding the survey itself, please contact the Market Regulation Department at (240) 386-5126.

NASD Rule Filing

On June 10, 2005, NASD filed with the SEC Amendment No. 2 to SR-NASD-00-23, originally filed with the Commission on April 19, 2000. Pursuant to NASD Rule 6957(c), the OATS Rules will apply to all manual orders effective 120 days after Commission approval of SR-NASD-SR-00-23 (“Phase Three”).

The SEC requests comment on the NASD proposal to amend the Order Audit Trail System (OATS) Rules which: (1) provide that members are required to capture and report both the time the order is received by the member from the customer and the time the order is received by the member's trading desk or trading department, if those times are different; (2) exclude certain members from the definition of "Reporting Member" for those orders that meet specified conditions and are recorded and reported to OATS by another member; and (3) permit NASD to grant exemptive relief from the OATS reporting requirements in certain circumstances to members that meet specified criteria. The comment period expires July 18, 2005.

View the Federal Register Notice. Should you have any questions or concerns regarding this proposal, please contact the OATS Helpdesk at (800) 321-6273.

NASD Extends Implementation Date of New Special Handling Code

In the January 14, 2005 OATS Report entitled "OATS Reporting Obligations for Modifications to Executed Orders", members were instructed that a new special handling code of ADD will be required for certain order modifications beginning with the February 14, 2005 OATS release. In order to give firms additional programming time to accommodate this new code, use of the new ADD Special Handling Code will not be required until April 1, 2005. Firms should note that because the new code will be included in the February 14, 2005 release, OATS will accept the code beginning February 14, 2005.

Please contact the OATS Helpdesk at 1-800-321-6273 if you have any further questions. (Last updated on: 1/27/05)

Passing Routed Order IDs via ACES

On November 24, 2004 NASDAQ issued a letter to ACES subscribers concerning translation issues in ACES that result in the routing and receiving firms reporting different OATS Routed Order IDs to OATS. NASDAQ's proposed short-term solution is for both routing and receiving firms to remove the spaces between the Branch and Sequence number when reporting the Routed Order ID to OATS. This solution is consistent with NASD's guidance posted in the OATS Report article Matching OATS Routed Order IDs on Orders Routed via Nasdaq's ACES System on September 2, 2004.

NASDAQ posted new ACES specifications on December 21, 2004. The specifications allow for Order Entry firms to transmit the Branch Sequence number to ACES without interval spaces beginning on January 12, 2005. As of that date, however, market makers will still receive the Branch/Sequence numbers with embedded spaces. NASD continues to recommend that the embedded spaces be eliminated when reporting the Routed Order ID to OATS.

As of April 2005, ACES plans to eliminate the embedded space between the Branch and Sequence numbers that ACES passes through to the receiving firms.

Please contact the OATS Helpdesk at 1-800-321-6273 with any question regarding this notice or on OATS in general. (Last updated on: 12/22/04)

New Notices to Members Regarding OATS

NASD recently published two Notices to Members regarding OATS. Notice to Members 04-80 seeks comment on proposed changes to the OATS Rules. These proposed changes would require members to record and report to OATS: (1) order information relating to exchanged listed and OTC equity securities; (2) enhanced information relating to orders routed to non-members or exchanges; (3) and order information related to proprietary orders generated during normal market making activities. Comments are due by January 20, 2005.

Notice to Members 04-85 announces SEC approval of amendments to Rule 6954(c) requiring that Electronic Communication Networks (ECNs) report the Routed Order ID on orders received electronically from other members.

Please contact the OATS Helpdesk at 1-800-321-6273 with any questions regarding these notices, or regarding OATS in general. (Last updated on: 11/24/04)

QQQ to Become OATS Reportable on December 1, 2004

On December 1, 2004, the NASDAQ-100 Index Tracking Stock^SM, known as QQQ^SM, will transfer its listing to the NASDAQ National Market^® under the trading symbol QQQQ. (See Nasdaq Head Trader Alert #2004-142) Upon listing on NASDAQ, QQQ will trade under NASDAQ market rules. This means that orders received for QQQ will become subject to the OATS Rules on December 1, 2004.

Therefore, any QQQ order received on or after December 1, 2004, must be reported to OATS. Order events related to orders received prior to December 1, 2004, however, are not subject to OATS reporting and should not be reported to the OATS production environment. Any Desk, Routing, Execution, Cancel/Replace, or Cancel Reports submitted to OATS for orders received before 12/1/04 will be rejected. Should you have any questions on this announcement or on OATS in general, please contact the OATS Helpdesk at 1-800-321-6273. (Last updated on: 11/12/04)

OATS Reporting

NASD has published Notice to Members 04-69 to notify firms that mandatory use of combined New Order/Route and combined New Order/Execution Reports has been delayed until April 4, 2005. The notice also provides clarification of combined reporting format requirements for related order information submitted by multiple order sending organizations. Please contact the OATS Helpdesk at 1-800-321-6273 should you have any questions regarding this notice, or regarding OATS in general. (Last updated on: 10/21/04)

OATS Customer Test (CT)

The OATS third quarter 2004 release will be available in the OATS Customer Test (CT) Web site on Tuesday, September 7, 2004. This date is moved forward from the scheduled date of September 20, 2004 to allow firms more time to test the reporting changes associated with the release. Specifically, two additional fields will be added to the New Order and Combined New Order/Route Reports to allow for the reporting of same day cancellations. Two additional fields will also be added to the Execution and Combined Order/Execution reports to allow for the mandatory reporting of Execution Price and Capacity. New Order, Execution Order, Combined New Order/Route, and Combined Order/Execution Reports submitted to OATS CT without these additional fields after September 7, 2004 will be rejected by OATS CT. The release date for OATS Production remains on schedule for October 4, 2004. Should you have any questions regarding this announcement, or on OATS in general, please contact the OATS Helpdesk at (800) 321-6273. (Last updated on: 08/30/04)

Interfirm Route Matching Statistics

NASD reminds firms that as of July 14, 2004, routing firms can view Interfirm Route Matching statistics on the OATS Web Interface. The Interfirm Route Matching statistics provide routing firms with the number and percentage of Route Reports that do not match to the corresponding New Order Report submitted by the receiving firm to which the order was routed. Along with the number and percentage of unmatched Route Reports, members will also be provided the specific unmatched reports so that they may research and correct any identified problems. Further, NASD reminds firms that it is incumbent upon any firm routing an order to another firm to communicate with the receiving firm to ensure they are able to receive and record the routing firm's Routed Order ID.

More information, including matching criteria, can be found in the most recent OATS Report and in the OATS Reporting Technical Specifications. Please contact NASD's OATS Helpdesk at (800) 321-6273 with questions regarding this notice or on OATS in general. (Last updated on: 08/13/04)

OATS Reporting Changes

NASD is announcing several additional reporting changes that will be effective with the OATS third quarter 2004 release, currently scheduled for October 4, 2004. Specifically, two additional fields will be added to the New Order and Combined New Order/Route Reports to allow for the reporting of same day cancellations. New Order and Combined New Order/Route Reports submitted to OATS without these additional fields after October 4, 2004 will be rejected by OATS. Further, the current optional use of Combined New Order/Route and Combined New Order/Execution reports will become mandatory for orders that are fully routed or executed on the same business day they are received effective December 1, 2004. Further details regarding these new reporting requirements are available in Notice to Members 04-46 (Last updated on: 06/16/04)

OATS Report Cards

On May 24, 2004, NASDAQ Trader.com implemented the following new Compliance Report Cards within the Secure Data section: Order Audit Trail System (“OATS”) Compliance Summary; OATS Compliance Daily Total Summary Data; and OATS Compliance Detail Data.

The OATS Compliance report card is a monthly status report on the number and percentage of: i. Late OATS submissions; ii. Unmatched execution reports; iii. Unmatched NASDAQ Execution System route reports; and iv. Unrepaired Repairable Rejected order events. As you know, member firms are required to submit Reportable Order Events (“ROEs”) to OATS in accordance with established NASD rules and regulations. If your firm engages in a pattern or practice of late OATS reporting or improperly reporting order events, the firm may be found to be in violation of NASD Conduct Rule 2110 and applicable OATS rules. Member firms should make no inference, however, that staff of NASD’s Market Regulation Department has or has not determined that the information contained on the OATS Compliance report cards does or does not constitute rule violations.

The OATS Compliance report card for each month will be made available on the site on the 24th of the following calendar month, or the first business day after the 24th if that day falls on a weekend or holiday. OATS Compliance report cards remain online for 13 months.

Also, this report will be included in the QMRC Scorecard. The QMRC Scorecard provides an overview of certain performance and comparison statistics from each of the active individual report cards in one specific location. The Scorecard will only supply data already available in the respective report cards for current month and the preceding month.

If you have questions concerning access to these reports, please call the NASDAQTrader Web Help Desk at (800) 777-5606. If you have questions regarding the data contained in these reports or on OATS in general, please call the OATS Helpdesk at (800) 321-6273. (Last updated on: 06/04/04)

Upcoming Changes To OATS Reporting Requirements

On April 29, the SEC approved NASD's proposed rule change SR-NASD-2004-023 regarding OATS Execution Reports. The rule change requires firms to add to their OATS Execution Reports the execution price and the capacity in which the member executed the transaction (eg. agency, principal, riskless principal). To allow firms adequate time to program for the rule change, the additional data elements will be required beginning with NASD's regular quarterly OATS release for third quarter 2004, currently scheduled for September 2004. Detailed information regarding the new data requirements will be included in an upcoming Notice to Members and updated OATS Reporting Technical Specifications. Should you have any questions regarding this notice, or on OATS in general, please contact the OATS Helpdesk at (800) 321-6273.

Connect: Direct

As of June 30, 2004, OATS will no longer support Connect: Direct as a method of transmission of OATS data to NASD. Firms currently using Connect: Direct may send OATS data via: FTP, IFT (Internet File Transfer), Email or the OATS Web Interface. Should you have any questions regarding this matter, or on OATS in general, please contact the OATS Help Desk at (800) 321-6273.

Special Handling Code

NASD is adding a new Special Handling Code of ("IO") Imbalance Only to the OATS New Order, Combined Order/Route and Combined Order/Execution reports. The definition of an Imbalance Only order is an order to buy or sell at a specified price or better that may be executed only during the Nasdaq Closing Cross and only against an imbalance. This Special Handling Code will be available in OATS on March 29, 2004. The corresponding OATS Reporting Technical Specifications will be published in the coming days.

Nasdaq Dual Listing Program

NASD member firms that receive orders for securities that are dually listed on Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange are not required to report the orders for dual listed securities to NASD's Order Audit Trail System (OATS). In Nasdaq Head Trader Alert #2004-006 http://nasdaqtrader.com/Trader/News/2004/headtraderalerts/hta2004-006.stm, Nasdaq has indicated that InterMarket Trading System (ITS) rules apply to dual-listings. The OATS rules do not require member firms to report to OATS orders handled pursuant to ITS rules.

Should you have any questions regarding dual listed securities or OATS in general, please contact the OATS Help Desk at (800) 321-6273.

For additional information, contact NASD Business and Technology Support Services.

NASD Extends Implementation Date of New Special Handling Code

Please contact the OATS Help Desk at 1-800-321-NASD if you have any further questions. (Last updated on: 1/27/05)

Passing Routed Order IDs via ACES
On November 24, 2004 NASDAQ issued a letter to ACES subscribers concerning translation issues in ACES that result in the routing and receiving firms reporting different OATS Routed Order IDs to OATS. NASDAQ's proposed short-term solution is for both routing and receiving firms to remove the spaces between the Branch and Sequence number when reporting the Routed Order ID to OATS. This solution is consistent with NASD's guidance posted in the OATS Report article Matching OATS Routed Order IDs on Orders Routed via Nasdaq's ACES System on September 2, 2004.

As of April 2005, ACES plans to eliminate the embedded space between the Branch and Sequence numbers that ACES passes through to the receiving firms.

Please contact the OATS Help Desk at 1-800-321-NASD with any question regarding this notice or on OATS in general. (Last updated on: 12/22/04)

New Notices to Members Regarding OATS
NASD recently published two Notices to Members regarding OATS. Notice to Members 04-80 seeks comment on proposed changes to the OATS Rules. These proposed changes would require members to record and report to OATS: (1) order information relating to exchanged listed and OTC equity securities; (2) enhanced information relating to orders routed to non-members or exchanges; (3) and order information related to proprietary orders generated during normal market making activities. Comments are due by January 20, 2005.

Please contact the OATS Help Desk at 1-800-321-NASD with any questions regarding these notices, or regarding OATS in general. (Last updated on: 11/24/04)

OATS 2nd Quarter Release Implementation Date Changed

The OATS 2nd quarter release will now be installed in the Production (PD) environment on 08/11/2003. The release will be available in the Customer Test (CT) environment on 07/28/2003. This is a change from the originally scheduled implementation dates of 07/28/2003 for PD and 7/14/2003 CT. The enhancements are being implemented in this release in order to: 1) identify whether an order routed to a Nasdaq Execution System or an ECN was sent electronically or non-electronically; 2) simplify system validations by breaking out the receiving method (electronic vs. non-electronic) from the order's origination (member, ECN, non-member); and 3) more easily identify when an ECN is the order receiving firm.

For more specific information including 1) the order report formats to be effective on 07/28/2003 in the Testing environment and 08/11/2003 in the Production environment; 2) a matrix of all system validations on New Order Type Reports with the new codes for the New Order, Cancel/Replace, Combined Order/Route and Combined Order/Execution Reports; and 3) a matrix of all system validations on Route Type Reports with the new codes for the Route and Combined Order Route Reports, please review the latest OATS Report.

Please contact the OATS Help Desk at 1-800-321-NASD with any questions regarding this notice. (Last updated on: 06/18/03)

Full Implementation of SuperMontage and Order/Route Matching Statistics

Effective December 2, 2002, NASDAQ fully implemented SuperMontage and began routing orders sent to SOES and SuperSoes to SuperMontage. Member firms are urged to update their systems, in particular their OATS reporting systems, to reflect the appropriate OATS Routing Method Code, SuperMontage (Routing Method Code "U"), as soon as possible. View more information. (Last updated on: 12/04/02)

2nd Quarter 2003 OATS Release

The 2nd Quarter 2003 OATS release currently scheduled for July 28, 2003, contains certain enhancements that will require coding changes on the part of member firms and OSOs. Therefore, NASD is providing advance notice to members and OSOs so that they may plan accordingly. NASD is expecting to publish the full Technical Specifications by mid-May. These enhancements are being implemented so that NASD can: 1) better identify whether an order routed to a Nasdaq Execution System or an ECN was sent electronically or non-electronically; 2) simplify system validations by breaking out the receiving method (electronic vs. non-electronic) from the order's origination (member, ECN, non-member); and 3) more easily identify when an ECN is the order receiving firm.

For more specific information including 1) the order report formats to be effective on July 14, 2003 in the Testing environment and July 28, 2003 in the Production environment; 2) a matrix of all system validations on New Order Type Reports with the new codes for the New Order, Cancel/Replace, Combined Order/Route and Combined Order/Execution Reports and 3) a matrix of all system validations on Route Type Reports with the new codes for the Route and Combined Order Route Reports, please review the latest OATS Report.

Please contact the OATS Helpdesk at 1-800-321-NASD with any questions regarding this notice, the OATS Report or OATS in general.

2nd Quarter 2003 OATS Release Enhancements

Modifications to the Received Method Code- NW, CR, OR, OE

The addition of a Member Type Code- NW, CR, OR, OE

Modifications to the Routing Method Code- RT, OR

The addition of a Destination Code -RT, OR

Modifications to the Account Type Code- NW, CR, OE, OR

The addition of an ECN Flag- NW, CR, OR, OE

The additions and modifications to these codes will have an impact on OATS validations and resulting rejections. Please monitor the OATS Web site and coming Email notices for additional information as it becomes available.

Full Implementation of SuperMontage and Order/Route Matching Statistics

Effective December 2, 2002, NASDAQ fully implemented SuperMontage and began routing orders sent to SOES and SuperSoes to SuperMontage. Member firms are urged to update their systems, in particular their OATS reporting systems, to reflect the appropriate OATS Routing Method Code, SuperMontage (Routing Method Code "U"), as soon as possible. In the meantime, OATS reporting firms should be aware that the NASDAQ conversion to SuperMontage will impact OATS Order/Route Matching statistics temporarily.

Beginning with the OATS Order/Route Matching Statistics for December 2, 2002 and until December 16, 2002, member firms may notice an increase in the number of unmatched Route Reports and unmatched Combined Order/Route Reports. The increase may be due to instances where a member indicates in an OATS Route Report or Combined Order/Route Report that the order was routed to SOES (Routing Method Code "S") or SuperSoes (Routing Method Code "O") instead of SuperMontage (Routing Method Code "U"). Effective December 16, 2002, OATS will adjust its Order/Route Matching process to attempt to match orders with Routing Method Codes of "S" and "O" to orders in SuperMontage.

With the full implementation of SuperMontage, members are expected to report the correct Routing Method Code for each order routed to a NASDAQ Execution System or other destination. For a short time, however, members may continue to submit to OATS Route Reports and Combined Order/Route Reports with the Routing Method Codes "S" and "O" without those events being rejected. Members should note that on a date to be announced shortly, OATS processing will be modified to reject Route Reports or Combined Order/Route Reports that use the Routing Method Codes "S" or "O". As of the date of that future modification, Route Reports and Combined Order/Route Reports submitted with the Routing Method Code of either "S" or "O" will be rejected. A follow-up announcement regarding the date of effectiveness of this processing modification will be made on a timely basis.

Should you have questions about this announcement, OATS Order/Route Matching or Routing orders to NASDAQ Execution Systems, please review the OATS Technical Specifications or contact the OATS Business Help Desk at 1-800-321-NASD.

Publication of Order/Route Matching Statistics

NASD will begin posting each member's Nasdaq Execution System Order/Route Matching statistics on the OATS Web Interface beginning November 1, 2002. These statistics will reflect the percentage of OATS Route Reports and/or Combined Order/Route Reports with a Routing Method Code of "S" (SOES), "O" (SuperSOES), "L" (SelectNet) or "U" (SuperMontage) that OATS was able to link to the related order in the applicable Nasdaq Execution System (SOES, SuperSOES, SelectNet and SuperMontage).

OATS attempts to match Route Reports and/or Combined Order/Route Reports with a Routing Method Code of "S" (SOES), "O" (SuperSOES), "L" (SelectNet) or "U" (SuperMontage) to the related order entered into the applicable Nasdaq Execution System based on the fields in the following chart:

SOES	SuperSOES	SelectNet	SuperMontage	OATS
Trade Date	Trade Date	Trade Date	Order Received Date	Order Sent Timestamp (Date and Time)
Entry Time	Entry Time	Entry Time	Order Entry Timestamp	Order Sent Timestamp (Date and Time)
Order Symbol ID	Order Symbol ID	Issue Symbol	Issue Symbol	Issue Symbol ID
Order Entry Firm MPID	Order Entry Firm MPID	Order Entry Firm MPID	Order Entry Firm MPID	Order Receiving Firm MPID
Branch ID (4 characters)	Branch ID (4 characters)	Branch/Sequence Code	User Order ID	Routed Order ID
Sequence Number (4 characters)	Sequence Number (4 characters)			Routed Order ID

Similar to the Order/Trade Matching sections of the OATS Web Interface, the system will display Order/Route Matching statistics up to 30 business days. The system will also display the unmatched records for 10 business days. Firms are responsible for monitoring these statistics to ensure that they are in compliance with all applicable reporting requirements.

Steps for navigating the Order/Route Matching section of the OATS Web Interface are available in the OATS Subscriber Manual.

OATS 2002.4 Release—October 2002

NASD plans to implement its next regular quarterly release for the fourth quarter of 2002 (2002.4) into the testing environment on December 2, 2002 and into the production environment on December 16, 2002. This release contains one enhancement that may require changes to firms' system codes.

Originating MPID

NASD is adding a field called "Originating MPID" to the end of four order event types. This is a conditional field that will be used to link secondary reports (Cancel, Route, Desk, Execution) to a New Order Report submitted under a different MPID such as in the case of a merger/ acquisition or a symbol change. The field is optional meaning that OATS will accept order events that do not contain this additional field.

Currently, the audit trail is lost for orders when the original new order is submitted to OATS under one MPID and any secondary events, such as an execution, are submitted to OATS under a different MPID. For example, Firm A merges with Firm B. The new combined firm continues to use Firm B's firm MPID. Firm A has a GTC limit order that was submitted to OATS prior to the merger. After the merger, the order is executed and an execution report is submitted to OATS under the MPID of Firm B. Since the original limit order had an MPID of Firm A and the execution report has an MPID of Firm B, OATS can not link the two and therefore, will reject the execution report with an error of 'Order does not exist in OATS'. With this release, using the new Originating MPID field, OATS will be able to connect these two order events and accept the execution report.

In order to make this link, member firms will need to provide the originating MPID (Firm A's MPID in this example) in any secondary order events submitted after a symbol change has become effective. In order to account for subsequent orders as well as cancel/replacements, a new field is being added to each of the 4 subsequent order event types. To link a secondary event to a previous order submitted under a different firm MPID, firms will need to use this field to avoid rejections of those secondary events. If the field is not used, the event will be rejected and firms will be responsible for reestablishing the New Order under the new MPID and for repairing the rejection, as they are today.

If a firm is planning a symbol change, they need to contact the OATS Help Desk prior to the effectiveness of the change so that the relationship between the new MPID and the old MPID may be established in the OATS system. If the relationship does not exist in the OATS system, the secondary ROEs submitted under the new MPID will be rejected as they are today.

New error messages to accommodate the new field and relationship validations are 1) 'Invalid Originating MPID for the original order received date', and 2) 'No relationship exists between Originating MPID and Order Receiving Firm MPID'.

Below are the order report definitions for each subsequent order event type that will be in the next version of the OATS Technical Specification due out in October.

Routing Report *

Seq.	Name	Data Type (Length)	M/C	Permissible Values and Instructions
1	Record Type	Alphanumeric (4)	M	'#OE#'-identifies an order event record. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
2	Order Event Type Code	Alphanumeric (2)	M	'RT'-identifies the order event record type as a routing record. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
3	Action Type Code	Alphanumeric (1)	M	Values: 'N,' 'C,' 'D,' or 'R.' Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
4	Firm ROE ID	Alphanumeric (12)	C	Values: Any alphanumeric not containing a delimiter.
5	Correction/Deletion Timestamp	Numeric (14)	C	Required if the Action Type Code is 'C,' 'D,' or 'R.' The format is YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.
6	Rejected ROE Resubmit Flag	Alphanumeric (1)	C	Required when the ROE has been Rejected by OATS and has been corrected for resubmission. Value is: 'Y.' Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
7	Order Receiving Firm MP ID	Alphanumeric (4)	C	Must be supplied if the MP ID in effect on the Order Sent Date is different from the MP ID in the Header Record. Must be a valid MP ID for the Order Sent Date. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
8	Order Receiving Firm Order Received Date	Numeric (14)	M	Format: YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.
9	Order Receiving Firm Order ID	Alphanumeric (20)	M	Values: Any alphanumeric not containing a delimiter.
10	Sent to Firm MP ID	Alphanumeric (4)	C	Required if the order was routed to a member firm or ECN. Optional if the order was routed to a Nasdaq execution system or to a non-member firm. Must be a valid MP ID for the Order Sent Timestamp. Should not be a valid MP ID if the order was routed to a non-member firm. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
11	Routed Order ID	Alphanumeric (20)	C	Required if an electronic order is routed to a member or Nasdaq execution system. If an order is routed to the same destination within the same second, the Routed Order ID passed to the receiving firm must be different for each route having the same shares quantity. Values: Any alphanumeric not containing a delimiter.
12	Issue Symbol ID	Alphanumeric (14)	M	Must be a symbol for a valid Nasdaq security, including convertible bonds, for the Order Sent Date. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
13	Order Sent Timestamp	Numeric (14)	M	Format: YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.
14	Routed Shares Quantity	Numeric (9)	M	The number of shares routed. If the order was bunched, this would be the total number of bunched shares routed. Values are any integer greater than zero.
15	Routing Method Code	Alphanumeric (1)	M	Values: 'C', 'E', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P', 'S', 'U'. Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
16	Bunched Order Indicator	Alphanumeric (1)	C	Required for orders when the identified order is bunched with other orders and routed to another firm or ECN. Values: Y or blank. Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
17	Originating MP ID	Alphanumeric (4)	C	Must be provided if this ROE needs to link to a previously submitted ROE with a different Order Receiving Firm MP ID. Firms may include or exclude the field from the report. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
18	End of Record Marker	(1 or 2)	M	Values: LF (Line Feed) or CR/LF (Carriage Return/Line Feed).

* Was not required for electronic orders until 8/1/1999; not required for non-electronic orders until Phase 3.

Desk Report *

Seq.	Name	Data Type (Length)	M/C	Permissible Values and Instructions
1	Record Type	Alphanumeric (4)	M	'#OE#'-identifies a order event record. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
2	Order Event Type Code	Alphanumeric (2)	M	'DS'-identifies the order event record type as a desk record. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
3	Action Type Code	Alphanumeric (1)	M	Values: 'N', 'C', 'D' or 'R.' Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
4	Firm ROE ID	Alphanumeric (12)	C	Values: Any alphanumeric not containing a delimiter.
5	Correction/Deletion Timestamp	Numeric (14)	C	Required if the Action Type Code is 'C,' 'D,' or 'R.' Format: YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.
6	Rejected ROE Resubmit Flag	Alphanumeric (1)	C	Required when the ROE has been Rejected by OATS and has been corrected for resubmission. Value is: 'Y.' Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
7	Order Receiving Firm MP ID	Alphanumeric (4)	C	Must be supplied if the MP ID in effect on the Desk Received Date is different from the MP ID in the Header Record. Must be a valid MP ID for the Desk Received Date. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
8	Order Receiving Firm Order Received Date	Numeric (14)	M	Format: YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.
9	Order Receiving Firm Order ID	Alphanumeric (20)	M	Values: Any alphanumeric not containing a delimiter.
10	Received by Desk ID	Alphanumeric (12)	M	Values: Any alphanumeric not containing a delimiter.
11	Issue Symbol ID	Alphanumeric (14 )	M	Must be a symbol for a valid Nasdaq security, including convertible bonds, for the Order Received Date. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
12	Desk Received Timestamp	Numeric (14)	M	Format: YYYYMMDDHHMMSS
13	Originating MP ID	Alphanumeric (4)	C	Must be provided if this ROE needs to link to a previously submitted ROE with a different Order Receiving Firm MP ID. Firms may include or exclude the field from the report. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
14	End of Record Marker	(1 or 2)	M	Values: LF (Line Feed) or CR/LF (Carriage Return/Line Feed).

* Was not required for electronic orders until 8/1/1999; not required for non-electronic orders.

Execution Report

Seq.	Name	Data Type (Length)	M/C	Permissible Values and Instructions
1	Record Type	Alphanumeric (4)	M	'#OE#' Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
2	Order Event Type Code	Alphanumeric (2)	M	'EX' is the value for this report. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
3	Action Type Code	Alphanumeric (1)	M	Values are: 'N,' 'C,' 'D,' or 'R.' Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
4	Firm ROE ID	Alphanumeric (12)	C	Any alphanumeric not containing a delimiter.
5	Correction/ Deletion Timestamp	Numeric (14)	C	Required if the Action Type Code is 'C,' 'D,' or 'R.' The format is YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.
6	Rejected ROE Resubmit Flag	Alphanumeric (1)	C	Required when the ROE has been Rejected by OATS and has been corrected for resubmission. Value is: 'Y'. Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
7	Order Receiving Firm MP ID	Alphanumeric (4)	C	Must be supplied if the MP ID in effect on the Execution Date is different from the MP ID in the Header Record. Must be a valid MP ID for the Execution Date. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
8	Order Receiving Firm Order Received Date	Numeric (14)	M	Format YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.
9	Order Receiving Firm Order ID	Alphanumeric (20)	M	Values: Any alphanumeric not containing a delimiter.
10	Execution Timestamp	Numeric (14)	M	The format is YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.
11	Branch/Sequence Number	Alphanumeric (8)	C	Must be provided when a trade is reported to ACT or TRACS. Not required if a Reporting Exception Code value or a Market Center ID of A, B, C, M, P, or X is supplied.
12	Execution Quantity	Numeric (9)	M	The number of shares executed. Values are any integer greater than zero.
13	Trader Terminal ID	Alphanumeric (12)	C	Values: Any alphanumeric not containing a delimiter. Required for electronic orders that were executed by a trader. Optional for trades made through an automated system without trader intervention. *
14	Reporting Exception Code	Alphanumeric (1)	C	Values: 'P', 'M', 'C', 'O', 'S', 'R'. Must be provided if the execution is not required to be reported to ACT or TRACS. Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
15	Issue Symbol ID	Alphanumeric(14)	M	Must be a symbol for a valid Nasdaq security, including convertible bonds, for the Execution Date. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
16	Execution Type Indicator	Alphanumeric (1)	M	Values: 'F' or 'P'. Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
17	Leaves Quantity	Numeric (9)	C	Must be provided when the Execution Type Indicator value is 'P.' If the partial execution reported results in the sum of all executions equaling the order quantity, the value should be zero.
18	Market Center ID	Alphanumeric (1)	M	Values: 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'M', 'P', 'Q', or 'X'. Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
19	Originating MP ID	Alphanumeric (4)	C	Must be provided if this ROE needs to link to a previously submitted ROE with a different Order Receiving Firm MP ID. Firms may include or exclude the field from the report. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
20	End of Record Marker	(1 or 2)	M	Values: LF (Line Feed) or CR/LF (Carriage Return/Line Feed).

* Not required for non-electronic orders.

Cancel Report

Seq.	Name	Data Type (Length)	M/C	Permissible Values and Instructions
1	Record Type	Alphanumeric (4)	M	'#OE#' Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
2	Order Event Type Code	Alphanumeric (2)	M	'CL' is the value for this report. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
3	Action Type Code	Alphanumeric (1)	M	Values are: 'N,' 'C,' 'D,' or 'R.' Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
4	Firm ROE ID	Alphanumeric (12)	C	Any alphanumeric not containing a delimiter.
5	Correction/ Deletion Timestamp	Numeric (14)	C	Required if the Action Type Code is 'C,' 'D,' or 'R.' The format is YYYYMMDDHHMMSS
6	Rejected ROE Resubmit Flag	Alphanumeric (1)	C	Required when the ROE has been Rejected by OATS and has been corrected for resubmission. Value is: 'Y.' Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
7	Order Receiving Firm MP ID	Alphanumeric (4)	C	Must be supplied if the MP ID in effect on the date in the Order Cancel Timestamp is different from the MP ID in the Header Record. Must be a valid MP ID on the date indicated in the Order Cancel Timestamp. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
8	Order Receiving Firm Order Received Date	Numeric (14)	M	Format YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.
9	Order Receiving Firm Order ID	Alphanumeric (20)	M	Values: Any alphanumeric not containing a delimiter.
10	Issue Symbol ID	Alphanumeric (14 )	M	Must be a symbol for a valid Nasdaq security, including convertible bonds, for the Order Received Date. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
11	Order Cancel Timestamp	Numeric (14)	M	The format is YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.
12	Cancel Type Flag	Alphanumeric (1)	M	Values are: 'F' or 'P'. Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
13	Cancel Quantity	Numeric (9)	C	Required when the Cancel Type Flag value is 'P.' Must be an integer greater than zero.
14	Cancel Leaves Quantity	Numeric (9)	C	Required when the Cancel Type Flag value is 'P.' Must be an integer greater than or equal to zero.
15	Canceled by Flag	Alphanumeric (1)	M	Values are: 'C' or 'F'. Case sensitive, must be a capital letter.
16	Originating MP ID	Alphanumeric (4)	C	Must be provided if this ROE needs to link to a previously submitted ROE with a different Order Receiving Firm MP ID. Firms may include or exclude the field from the report. Case sensitive, must be capital letters.
17	End of Record Marker	(1 or 2)	M	Values: LF (Line Feed), or CR/LF (Carriage Return/Line Feed)

OATS 2002.3 Release—October 2002

NASD plans to implement its next regular quarterly release for the third quarter of 2002 (2002.3) into the testing environment on September 30, 2002, and into the production environment on October 14, 2002. This release contains a variety of changes, some requiring coding by members and some that enhance functionality.

The 2002.3 release includes the following enhancements that may require changes to firm system codes.

Market Center Code

On July 24, 2002, the SEC approved amendments to NASD rules that establish, implement, and operate NASD's Alternative Display Facility (ADF) on a pilot basis (Notice to Members 02-45). In this regard, NASD Rule 6954 has been amended to require that when a Reporting Member executes an order, in whole or part, the Reporting Member shall report the national securities exchange or facility operated by a registered securities association where the trade was reported. Therefore, a new mandatory Market Center Code is being added to the OATS Execution and Combined Order/Execution Report.

Valid codes include:

Q (Nasdaq)

D (ADF)

C (Cincinnati Stock Exchange)

A (American Stock Exchange)

M (Chicago Stock Exchange)

As stated in NTM 02-45, firms will be required to begin identifying the market center where the order execution was reported beginning September 27, 2002. However, in order to coincide with the regularly scheduled third quarter 2002, OATS release (OATS release 2002.3), firms will not be required to record or submit this information to the OATS production environment until October 14, 2002. Firms may begin testing their systems in the OATS Testing Environment beginning on September 30, 2002, but should not submit any Execution Reports or Combined Order/Execution Reports with the new Market Center Code to the OATS production environment until October 14, 2002.

Enhanced Validations

NASD is tightening its validations specifically related to the combination of Received Method Code, Account Type Code, Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID on the New Order, Cancel/Replace, Combined Order/Execution and Combined Order/Route reports. The validations follow:

Received Method Code	Account Type Code	Routing Firm MPID	Routed Order ID	Comments
E (Electronic)	W (Wholesale)	Required	Required	Routing Firm MPID must be valid.
N (Non-electronic, non-ECN)	W (Wholesale)	Required	Optional	Routing Firm MPID must be valid.
C (ECN)	W (Wholesale)	Required	Optional	Routing Firm MPID must be valid.
M (Non-Member Firm)	W (Wholesale)	Optional	Null	If Routing Firm MPID is populated it must be a non-member firm or event will be rejected.
X (Not known)	W (Wholesale)	Null	Null	X is not an accepted value for wholesale orders and therefore this combination will be rejected.
E (Electronic)	R (Retail)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
N (Non-electronic, non-ECN)	R (Retail)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
C (ECN)	R (Retail)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
M (Non-Member Firm)	R (Retail)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
X (Not known)	R (Retail)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
E (Electronic)	P (Proprietary)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
N (Non-electronic, non-ECN)	P (Proprietary)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
C (ECN)	P (Proprietary)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
M (Non-Member Firm)	P (Proprietary)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
X (Not known)	P (Proprietary)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
E (Electronic)	E (Employee)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
N (Non-electronic, non-ECN)	E (Employee)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
C (ECN)	E (Employee)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
M (Non-Member Firm)	E (Employee)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
X (Not known)	E (Employee)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
E (Electronic)	C (Combined)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
N (Non-electronic, non-ECN)	C (Combined)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
C (ECN)	C (Combined)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
M (Non-Member Firm)	C (Combined)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.
X (Not known)	C (Combined)	Null	Null	Routing Firm MPID and Routed Order ID must be blank.

OATS Contact Email Address

If an OATS Contact is updated on the OATS Web Interface, the e-mail address must be populated and contain an @ and a domain name or the contact will not be recorded.

Special Handling Code

One new special handling code of TS will be added:

Trailing Stop order is TS.

A Trailing Stop Order is defined as follows: In the case of a sell order, a Trailing Stop Order allows the stop price to increase by a predetermined amount or formula (e.g., specified dollar amount, a percentage of the market price, or some other predetermined criteria), as the market price of the security advances. In the case of a buy order, a Trailing Stop Order allows the stop price to decrease by a predetermined amount or formula (e.g., a specified dollar amount, a percentage of the market price, or some other predetermined criteria), as the market price of the security declines. Once the Trailing Stop price is triggered, the buy or sell order becomes either an executable market order or a limit order (i.e., a Trailing Stop Limit Order).

Should you have any questions regarding this topic or on OATS in general, please contact the OATS Help Desk at 1-800-321-NASD

As a result of the April 8 OATS software release there has been an increase in ROE Rejections. The most common rejection reasons are listed below with possible solutions. Please check your coding to verify that you are submitting correctly. As a result of the high volume of ROE rejections the OATS Web site may be operating slower than normal. Firms are encouraged to Download their rejections.

Missing Routing Firm Market Participant ID- This rejection occurs on the New Order Report. Possible reasons why it is being rejected are: 1) The Account Type Code is marked as Wholesale (W) but no Routing Firm MPID is populated. If the order is indeed Wholesale, then a Routing Firm MPID must be provided; 2) The Account Type Code is marked Retail (R) however the Routed Order ID is populated. If the order is indeed Retail, then both the Routed Order ID and the Routing Firm MPID should be left blank. If the Routed Order ID field is populated, OATS will assume that the order is Wholesale and will reject the order if no Routing Firm MPID is populated. If the order is Wholesale then the Account Type Code should be (W) and both the Routed Order ID and Routing Firm MPIDs should be populated.

Invalid Stop or Limit Price- OATS no longer accepts zero (0) as an accepted Stop or Limit Price.

Missing or Invalid Account Type Code- OATS now requires that the Account Type Code be populated for all orders received electronically.

Please remember that all resubmitted rejections should have the ROE Resubmit Flag set to Y upon resubmission. Should you have any questions, please contact the OATS Helpdesk at 1-800-321-NASD. (Last updated on: 04/15/02)

OATS Written Supervisory Procedures Clarification

The OATS Written Supervisory Procedures article in the February edition of the OATS Report stated, "Reporting members need to ensure that the data transmitted on their behalf is transmitted in a timely fashion and that it is complete and accurate. Among other things, firms should review to verify that (1) their data is sent to OATS by 0400 the following calendar day; (2) the data is complete with no missing events; and (3) the data is accurate with all of the appropriate data fields reported correctly. As noted above, NASD staff recommends that each of these reviews be conducted on a daily basis. Just reviewing rejected data will not suffice. Reporting Members will need to review all of the data transmitted to OATS on their behalf."

The NASD would like to modify the above statement to read as follows: "Reporting members need to ensure that the data transmitted on their behalf is transmitted in a timely fashion and that it is complete and accurate. Among other things, firms should review to verify that (1) their data is sent to OATS by 0400 the following calendar day; (2) the data is complete with no missing events; and (3) the data is accurate with all of the appropriate data fields reported correctly. NASD staff recommends that item (1) above be conducted on a daily basis. Items (2) and (3) should be performed through sampling on a periodic basis. Just reviewing rejected data will not suffice. Reporting Members will need to ensure the accuracy and completeness of all data transmitted to OATS on their behalf." (Last updated on: 03/19/01)

OATS 2002.2 Release—July 2002

NASD plans to release the regular quarterly release for the second quarter of 2002 (2002.2), into the production environment on July 15. This release contains a variety of changes, some requiring coding by members and some that simply enhance current functionality. In addition to the planned quarterly release, changes necessary for the anticipated implementation of SuperMontage will coincide with the rollout of the 2002.2 release.

The 2002.2 release is scheduled to be implemented in the testing environment (CT) on July 8 and includes the following enhancements that may require changes to firms' code:

Special Handling Codes

Two existing special handling codes will change values:

Market at Open changes from MKO to MAO.

Market at Close changes from MOC to MAC.

Two new special handling codes will be added:

Market on Open is MOO.

Market on Close is MOC.

The definitions for these codes are:

MAO- (Market at Open)- Instructs the trader to execute the order at the opening inside quote price of regular market hours.

MAC- (Market at Close)-Instructs the trader to execute the order at the closing inside quote price of regular market hours.

MOO- (Market on Open)-Instructs the trader to execute the order at the opening print price of regular market hours.

MOC- (Market on Close)- Instructs the trader to execute the order at the closing last sale price of regular market hours.

Routing Method Code

A new Routing Method Code of "U" will be added for orders routed to SuperMontage

FORE Header Validation

The FORE Header validation will be modified. Now the first validation will be the first field, which must be #HD#. Please verify the first field of each FORE file begins with #HD#. Also, the 5th character of the header record defines the delimiter for the entire FORE. All delimiters in the header, trailer, and all of the ROEs must match the defined delimiter of the header record or the FORE/ROEs will reject.

Cancel Leaves Quantity

If populated, the Cancel Leaves Quantity in the Cancel Report must be an integer of zero or greater. Error message added "Invalid Cancel Leaves Quantity"

Future Received Dates

Any Limit Order received by OATS after 12:00 a.m. and before 4:00 a.m. that contains an Order Received Date one calendar day or more in the future will be rejected.

Example 1: A firm submits a New Order Report that is a Limit Order. The ROE is received and processed by OATS at 01:00 on 4/24/2002. The Order Received Date in the ROE is 4/24/2002. The ROE will be accepted.

Example 2: A firm submits a New Order Report that is a Limit Order. The ROE is received and processed by OATS at 01:00 on 4/24/2002. The Order Received Date in the ROE is 4/25/2002. The ROE will be rejected.

Example 3: A firm submits a New Order Report that is a Limit Order. The ROE is received and processed by OATS at 06:00 on 4/24/2002. The Order Received Date in the ROE is 4/24/2002. The ROE will be accepted.

Example 4: A firm submits a New Order Report that is a Limit Order. The ROE is received and processed by OATS at 06:00 on 4/24/2002. The Order Received Date in the ROE is 4/25/2002. The ROE will be rejected.

New Error Messages


1010		Invalid Delimiter (Header)

2750		Sent to Routed Order ID is required for electronically routed orders. (Combined Order/Route Report)

The 2002.2 release will include the following changes that impact current OATS functionality, but should not require any programming efforts by member firms.

User Log in

When a user logs into OATS, and if the user has not read the latest announcement, a notification will display with the latest announcement and a link to the OATS Announcements page.

Member Email Contact Information

The e-mail address in the OSO Contacts field will now be required. Any new entries or modifications to an existing entry will require an e-mail address to be populated.

Orders Routed to Nasdaq Execution Systems

As specified in the OATS Reporting Technical Specifications Section 4, firms are required to pass a Routed Order ID to the Nasdaq Execution System (SuperSOEs, SOES, SelectNet, and SuperMontage, when implemented) when routing an order electronically by populating the branch/sequence number field in the Nasdaq system with the same Routed Order ID populated on the corresponding OATS Route Report. This Routed Order ID is used by NASD to link the OATS order to the related Nasdaq Execution System order. With the implementation of 2002.2, OATS will begin providing statistics to member firms on match rates between OATS Route Reports submitted with a Routing Method Code of "L" (SelectNet), "S" (SOES) or "O" (SuperSOES) and the related Nasdaq Execution System order. As a reminder, the following table outlines the fields OATS attempts to match between the OATS Route Report and the related Nasdaq Execution System order. Note: OATS plans to publish these statistics in August 2002.

SuperSOEsAnd SOES	SelectNet	OATS Matching Field
Trade Date	Trade Date	Order Sent Timestamp (date and time)
Entry Time	Entry Time	Order Sent Timestamp (date and time)
Issue Symbol	Issue Symbol	Issue Symbol ID
Order Entry Executing Firm MP ID	Order Entry Firm MP ID	Order Receiving Firm MP ID
Order Quantity	Order Quantity	Routed Shares Quantity
Branch ID (4 characters)	Branch Sequence Code	Routed Order ID
Branch Sequence Number (4 characters)		Routed Order ID

When SuperMontage is implemented firms will be required to report the Routing Method Code of "U" (SuperMontage) on the Route Report. OATS will match the corresponding fields on the OATS Route Report to the related SuperMontage order: Order Received Date, Issue Symbol, Order Entry Firm MPID, Order Entry Quantity and User Order ID. OATS will also provide statistics on match rates for orders entered in SuperMontage.

Should you have any questions regarding these changes, please contact the OATS Help Desk at 1-800-321-NASD.

OATS First Quarter Software Release Update

In the article entitled OATS First Quarter Software Release in the February edition of The OATS Report it was stated that the next software release would be implemented on April 2, 2001. Due to membership concerns that the release date of April 2, 2001 may interfere with decimal conversion efforts, NASD has moved the implementation date of the latest OATS release to Monday, May 7, 2001. (Last updated on: 03/19/01)

SEC Requests Comment on Proposed Change to OATS Rules

On October 3, 2000, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published for comment in the Federal Register proposed amendments to the OATS rules, which were filed by the NASD earlier this year. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 43344 (September 26, 2000), 65 Fed. Reg. 59038 (October 3, 2000) (File No. SR-NASD-00-23). Those interested in commenting on the proposed rule change should submit comments directly to the SEC as indicated in the Federal Register notice prior to October 24, 2000, the close of the comment period. To become effective, the proposed amendments must be approved by the SEC. (Last updated 11/21/00)

Firms Should Keep OATS Contact Information Current

OSO Administrators at NASD member OATS reporting firms are responsible for maintaining a list of contacts with whom OATS technical and regulatory staff may communicate. The NASD asks OSO Administrators to keep contact information very current and to include email addresses in the contact information so that NASD may expedite the process of notifying firms should the need arise. More information on how to perform contact administration can be obtained in Chapter 3 of the OATS Subscriber Manual or by contacting Business and Technology Support Services at 1-800-321-NASD. (Last updated 08/30/00)

Organizations that plan to transmit data to OATS in Phase 3 via the OATS network, on their own behalf, should submit completed circuit orders by July 1, 2000. Circuit orders require approximately 120 days for processing. Organizations that order their circuits late may not have adequate time for testing before their implementation date. (For additional information about obtaining an OATS circuit or an OATS Service Order Package, contact MCIWorldCom at 800-825-9196.) (Last updated 07/05/00)

NASD Proposes Changes To OATS

On April 20, 2000, NASD filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rule changes to OATS Rules 6951 and 6954 and to add a new Rule 6958. (See SR-NASD-00-23). The SEC will publish the proposed rules in the Federal Register, indicating a time period during which members and other interested parties may comment. Those interested in commenting on the proposed changes to the OATS Rules should look for publication of the proposal in the Federal Register and should submit comments directly to the SEC prior to the close of the comment period indicated in the Federal Register Release. The proposed rules will not become final until approved by the SEC.

Generally, the proposed rules would: (1) provide that the time of order origination and receipt for an electronic order is the time the order is captured by a member’s electronic order-routing or execution system, and for a manual order, is the time the order is received by the member’s trading desk or trading department for execution or routing purposes; (2) exclude certain members from the definition of "Reporting Member" for those orders that meet specified conditions and are recorded and reported to the OATS by another member; (3) require any receiving reporting member, including electronic communications networks ("ECNs"), that receive, electronically or manually, routed orders, to capture and report a routed order identifier; and (4) permit NASD to grant exemptive relief from the OATS rules under certain circumstances.

Questions/Further Information: Questions concerning this information may be directed to Stephanie M. Dumont, Assistant General Counsel, Office of General Counsel, NASD at (202) 728-8176, or the Legal Section of the Market Regulation Department at (301) 590-6410.

More information about OATS.

(Last updated 04/24/00)

Upon the release of OATS 3.0 (June 14 in the testing environment and June 28 in the production environment), firms transmitting data via FTP may receive ROE rejection reports via FTP. In order for this to occur, the firm must designate one user having the FTP User account type to receive ROE rejection reports. The procedure for doing this via the OATS Web interface follows.

To Designate a User to Receive ROE Rejection Reports via FTP:

From the OATS Reporting and Feedback window, click the OSO Admin link. The Order Sending Organization Details window appears.

Click the View Users button. The User Information window appears.

In the User ID column, click the name link of the user you want to designate as the receiver of ROE rejection reports via FTP. The User Details window appears.

Click the Modify User button.

Select the checkbox next to User to Receive Rejection Report.

Click the Update Record button. The message "User updated successfully" appears at the top of the User Details window.

(Last updated 06/18/99)

By June 15, NASD will assign a Reporting Date to firms and non-member third parties that will be reporting to OATS starting in Phase 2. The information will be available from within OATS. To view the assigned Reporting Date, member firms and non-members should follow the following procedures:

A user with an Administrator account should log-in to the OATS Web interface in either the testing or production environment (https://oatstest.nasdr.com or https://oats.nasdr.com).

The user should click the OSO Admin link at the top of the page.

The Order Sending Organization Details window will appear.

The user should refer to the "Authorized Date". This date is the assigned Reporting Date. If no date appears, the assignment is not yet complete. Check again later.

(Last updated 05/26/99)

OATS Frequently Asked Questions C22 and C50 have been updated. (Last updated 05/13/99)

Transmitting organizations that are already submitting data to OATS, but that intend to submit via CONNECT:Direct (formerly known as Network Data Mover or NDM) should indicate their intentions by contacting NASD Business and Technology Support Services (select OATS and Business from the phone menu). (Last updated 05/12/99)

A new edition of the OATS Reporting Technical Specifications was posted to these Web pages on May 10, 1999. (Last updated 05/12/99)

A new edition of the OATS Subscriber Manual was posted to these Web pages in April 1999. (Last updated 05/12/99)

No files or records submitted to the OATS production environment can be removed or deleted. Firms are responsible to ensure that they submit the proper data to the production environment. (Last updated 05/12/99)

There is no way to remove rejections from the OATS Web interface. Do not attempt to use the deletion function to remove rejections. See FAQ T23 for additional information. (Last updated 05/12/99)

If you intend to transmit to OATS using the private network for File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or CONNECT:Direct^TM you must contact MCIWorldCom and submit a completed contract approximately 120 days before you are required to report to OATS. Parties that fail to do so may not receive circuits before their assigned Reporting Date. (Organizations that plan to transmit data to OATS via the private network in Phase 2 should submit completed circuit orders by April 1, 1999. Organizations that plan to transmit data to OATS in Phase 3 via the private network should submit completed circuit orders by April 1, 2000. ) (Last updated 3/16/99)

No organization should transmit to the OATS production environment until it has successfully transmitted files and records to the OATS testing environment. (Last updated 3/16/99)

Order data is only available in OATS for five days. Therefore, all repairs of rejected records and corrections or deletions of accepted records must be completed within that period. (Last updated 3/16/99)

All market makers that handle electronic orders at their trading desk are required to retain order information beginning March 1, 1999, and to transmit order information to OATS beginning on their assigned Reporting Date, regardless of the system used to handle these electronic orders. Market makers that only handle orders in a manual way are required to retain order information beginning July 31, 2000. Non-market makers, including introducing firms, are required to retain and report electronic orders beginning August 1, 1999, and manual orders beginning July 31, 2000. (Last updated 3/16/99)

If a third party is submitting data to OATS on your behalf, you must register with OATS to have access to your record rejections, the on-line rejection repair utility, and reporting statistics. Contact NASD Business and Technology Support Services to obtain the Subscriber Initiation and Registration Form and register. (Last updated 3/16/99)

Do not submit to the OATS production system Cancel/Replace, Cancel, Desk, Routing, or Execution Reports for orders received or originated before March 1, 1999 or your assigned Reporting Date (whichever is later). Such order reports are not related to an accepted New Order Report in OATS, and they will be rejected. See FAQ T7 and P2. (Last updated 3/16/99)

More than one third party may transmit order events to OATS on behalf of a member firm; however, firms are responsible to ensure that all required information is submitted to OATS and that the third parties do not send duplicate information to OATS. If the parties reporting on a firm’s behalf transmit duplicate reports (for example, if a clearing firm and a service bureau both transmit an Execution Report for the same order), only the first report will be accepted by OATS. All subsequent reports will be considered duplicates and will be rejected. (Last updated 11/4/98)