Trade Data
What Is Trade Data?
A municipal security trade or transaction represents a purchase-sale contract for the transfer of a municipal security from one party to another. The MSRB collects information about transactions in municipal securities from the dealers that effect the transactions.
How Can This Data Be Accessed?
The MSRB's Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) website provides free access to municipal trade data. Users may also obtain an electronic feed of municipal trade data by purchasing a subscription.
What Information Does the MSRB Provide about Trades?
MSRB provides the following information about transactions in municipal securities:
• Trade date and time
• Settlement date
• Buy/sell indicator
• Par amount
• CUSIP number
• Price (yield and dollar price)
• Commission charged on an agency trade
• Dealer capacity as either agent or principal
• Special condition indicator
Why Is the Availability of Trade Data Important?
Trade data made available by the MSRB provides price transparency to the municipal market and facilitates market surveillance. The MSRB is the only comprehensive source of data on the more than 40,000 daily municipal market transactions, this data is crucial to promoting the fair pricing of municipal securities transactions. The MSRB also provides all transaction data to municipal securities regulators charged with market surveillance, inspection for compliance and enforcement of MSRB rules.
How Can Investors Use the Information?
Trade data can be used by investors to monitor recent and historical transaction prices. In addition, since MSRB trade data shows each transaction in a security, investors can also use trade data to compare recent prices and trade frequency across municipal securities. The MSRB also disseminates market statistics with historical trends for different types of municipal securities.