OATS 2003.2 Release

May 2, 2003

 

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.

 

Outlined below is an overview of the specific 2nd Quarter enhancements.

 

1. New Order, Cancel/Replace, Combined Order/Route and Combined Order/Execution Reports

 

• The Received Method Code will now be used exclusively to determine if an order was received electronically or non-electronically. With the 2nd Quarter Release, the only acceptable values will be (E) electronically or (N) non-electronically. Any other values reported in this field will cause the ROE to reject.
  
  
• A Member Type Code field will be added to identify the type of entity from which the order was received. Acceptable values will be (M) member, (N) non-member or (C) ECN. Firms that receive an order directly from a Retail customer should populate the Member Type field with N.
  
  
• An ECN Flag field will be added. This flag must be populated with a Y if the Order Receiving Firm is an ECN. If the Order Receiving Firm is not an ECN, then the field must be left blank.

 

2. Route and Combined Order/Route Reports

 

• The Routing Method Code will now be used exclusively to determine if an order was routed electronically or non-electronically. With the 2nd Quarter Release, the only acceptable values will be (E) electronically or (N) non-electronically. Any other values reported in this field will cause the ROE to reject.
  
  
• A Destination Code field will be added to identify where the member routed the order (e.g., SuperMontage, Primex, ECN, exchange, etc).

 

3. Execution and Combined Order/Execution Reports

 

• Added the Reporting Exception Code of (A) for Agency average price executions.

In order to provide firms with early guidance on necessary coding changes for the release, NASD is publishing companion documents designed to provide firms with the following: 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. These documents are designed to assist programmers with their system coding.

 

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.