What is FINRA ATS data?

FINRA ATS data is a weekly transparency report showing trading volume and trade counts executed on each Alternative Trading System (dark pool), broken down per security. It is published on a delay — roughly two weeks for Tier 1 NMS stocks and four weeks for others — and it shows volume only, not the direction of trades or who was buying versus selling.

Can FINRA ATS data show dealer positioning?

Not directly. FINRA ATS data is delayed and non-directional, so it cannot tell you whether dealers are long or short, or what they did today. It is best used as context — it reveals where off-exchange volume concentrates over time, which helps corroborate a dealer-flow read built primarily from options open interest and gamma exposure.

Is DTCC or OCC the right clearing data for options dealer flow?

For listed options, the OCC (Options Clearing Corporation) is the relevant clearinghouse — it publishes options volume and open interest. DTCC handles equities clearing and settlement, plus the securities-lending and short-position plumbing. So options dealer flow is read from OCC data, while DTCC data is more useful for the equities and short-interest side of the picture.

Tracking Dealer Flow with FINRA ATS & DTCC Data

The regulatory plumbing behind dealer positioning — and what each source can and can't tell you

Everyone explains the theory of dealer flow — dealers hedge gamma, they pin price, etc. Almost nobody explains where the data actually comes from. The honest answer: dealer flow is never reported directly. You infer it by triangulating several public data sources, each with sharp limitations. Knowing those limits is what separates a real read from a confident guess.

The Honest Baseline: It's Inferred, Not Reported

No exchange or regulator publishes "dealers bought X today." Every dealer-flow estimate is a model built on public data. Treat each source below as context that shifts probabilities, never as a direct readout of dealer intent.

1. Options Open Interest & Gamma Exposure (the primary signal)

The backbone of any dealer-flow read is options open interest, converted into gamma exposure (GEX). This is real, near-real-time, and the most direct view of where dealers must hedge. It's what powers the levels on our dashboard. The regulatory data below is corroboration layered on top of this — not a replacement for it.

2. FINRA ATS Data (dark pool volume)

FINRA publishes weekly ATS transparency data — Alternative Trading Systems are the dark pools where large players trade off the lit exchanges. For every security, it reports the volume and trade count executed on each ATS.

FINRA ATS data tells you: FINRA ATS data does NOT tell you: -------------------------- -------------------------------- ✓ Off-exchange volume by venue ✗ Trade direction (buy vs sell) ✓ Per-security breakdown ✗ Who was on each side ✓ Week-over-week trends ✗ Anything in real time ✗ Dealer net positioning

Critical caveat: ATS data is delayed and non-directional. Roughly a two-week delay for Tier 1 NMS stocks, four weeks for others, and it shows volume only. It is context — where off-exchange interest concentrates over time — not a same-day signal. Anyone selling it as a live dealer-direction feed is overstating it.

Used correctly, it's valuable: persistent dark-pool concentration in a name confirms institutional interest that lit-market volume alone would miss, which helps you weight the gamma levels that matter.

3. OCC vs. DTCC: Get the Clearinghouse Right

This is where most write-ups are simply wrong. The clearing data you want depends on the instrument:

OCC (Options Clearing Corporation) — clears all listed options. This is the correct source for options volume and open interest, and therefore the clearing layer most relevant to dealer gamma.
DTCC (Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation) — clears and settles equities, and runs the securities-lending and short-position plumbing. Useful for the cash-equity and short-interest side of the picture, not for options hedging directly.

Rule of thumb: options dealer flow → OCC. Equity settlement, short interest, and securities lending → DTCC. Conflating the two is the fastest way to publish something a desk trader will immediately distrust.

Putting It Together

A credible dealer-flow read stacks the sources by reliability:

PRIMARY → Options OI + GEX (real-time, direct hedging map) CONFIRM → OCC volume/OI (clearing-level options activity) CONTEXT → FINRA ATS (delayed dark-pool concentration) ADJACENT → DTCC (equity settlement, short-interest plumbing)

The gamma map tells you where dealers must hedge today. The regulatory data tells you whether the off-exchange and clearing activity supports that read over time. Neither alone is the full picture — together they're a defensible, data-grounded view of dealer positioning.

See the gamma layer live

Real-time GEX levels and dark-pool block trades on the dashboard

View Live Dashboard

Dealer Flow Explained — the hub: how market maker hedging moves markets

Dark Pools Explained — what the ATS venues behind this data actually are

Positive vs. Negative Gamma — the regimes that gamma data reveals

0DTE Gamma Effect — why same-day options dominate the flow

GEX Methodology — how we turn open interest into levels