OATS Technical Specifications
The OATS Reporting Technical Specifications document covers the requirements and procedures for clock synchronization; system access requirements for supplying OATS files to FINRA; order reporting scenarios that describe, from a business perspective, responsibilities for reporting to OATS; details regarding the required layout of OATS files; procedures for providing corrections to OATS data and for receiving feedback from FINRA; and the procedures for registration, self administration, and testing and certification. It also contains a data dictionary that describes all of the data elements in OATS files; a list of report formats, including field names, data types, and lists of permissible values; examples of order reports; and a glossary.
The OATS Reporting Technical Specifications is not intended to provide information about how to develop an electronic system that reports order information; it is only intended to describe what such a system must deliver to FINRA.
FINRA released a new edition of the OATS Reporting Technical Specifications dated December 11, 2012.This version of the OATS Reporting Technical Specifications contains code changes specific to New FINRA Rule 5350, which provides that any order labeled as a “stop order” or a “stop limit order” must be triggered based upon a transaction at the stop price, but permits members to offer alternative order types with different triggers (e.g., a stop order triggered by a quotation at the stop price) so long as such other order type is not labeled as a stop order and is clearly distinguishable from a stop order. These Special Handling Codes will be available in the OATS Production environment on January 21, 2013 and required to be reported, when applicable, starting on March 4, 2013.
OATS Reporting Technical Specifications (12/11/12 edition) (PDF 1.41 MB)
View our archive of past specifications.
If you are having problems accessing these files, please contact FINRA Business and Technology Support Services at 1-800-321-6273.