Lesson 2 of 5 · Dark Pools
Prints vs. trades
A print is a reported transaction.
Every dark pool print is a record of a trade that already happened at a specific price and size. You see the price, the size, and the time. You do not see the direction.
All you know from the print.
1.2M shares at 103.0. That is all the data shows. No arrow up or down. No label saying who traded. An institution that printed 1.2M shares might have been buying, selling, or crossing a paired internal trade.
This one is an animated diagram in the app. See it in Vero.
The direction is always unknown.
Claims that dark pool prints always indicate accumulation are not accurate. The print records that a transaction occurred. What happens when price revisits that level is where useful information lives, not in the original print.
A dark pool print shows 800,000 shares at $87.50. What can you say with certainty?
Show the answer
C. A trade of 800,000 shares occurred at $87.50. The print records that a transaction occurred at that price and size. Direction and intent are not disclosed in the reported data.