Dark pools are private exchanges for trading securities that are not accessible to the investing public. Dark pools were created to facilitate block trading by institutional investors who did not wish to impact the markets with their large orders and obtain adverse prices for their trades.

In a dark pool trading system, investors place buy and sell orders without disclosing either the price of their trade or the number of shares. Dark pool trades are made “over the counter.” This means that the stocks are traded directly between the buyer and seller, oftentimes with the help of a broker.

Instinet In 1986, Instinet started the first dark pool trading venue known as "After Hours Cross". However it was not until the next year that ITG created the first intraday dark pool "POSIT", both allowed large trades to be executed anonymously which was attractive to sellers of large blocks of shares.

While dark pools offer distinct advantages to large players, the lack of transparency that is their biggest selling point also results in a number of disadvantages. These include price divergence from the public markets and a potential for abuse.

An example of dark pool stock trading can be quoted when an executive of a large company decides to sell 50% of his shares. He knows that this would directly impact the company he's working for because this is a large number of shares, and his position would attract media attention to the trade.

Dark pool liquidity is the trading volume created by institutional orders executed on private exchanges. Information about transactions that are conducted via private exchanges - also called dark pools - is mostly unavailable to the public.

The bulk of dark pool liquidity is created by block trades facilitated away from the central stock market exchanges and conducted by institutional investors (primarily investment banks). Dark pool liquidity is also referred to as the upstairs market, dark liquidity, or dark pool.

Dark pools, sometimes referred to as dark pools of liquidity, is trading volume that occurs or liquidity that is not openly available to the public. The bulk of this volume represents large trades engaged in by institutional traders and trading desks away from the exchange markets and is not visible to the public.

The primary advantage of dark pool trading is that institutional investors making large trades can do so without exposure while finding buyers and sellers. This prevents heavy price devaluation, which would otherwise occur.

Lack of Transparency: Dark pools are often criticized for their lack of transparency, making it difficult for investors to track their trades and monitor market conditions.

There are other ways as well that you can kind of find out some people try to look at the tape. And this is a key thing here too they try to look at the time and sales tape. On like thinkorswim for

Look at the volume of the dark pool print to see if its significantly higher than the average daily volume of the stock or ETF. Wait for a retest of the dark pool level and look for bounces or resistance. Check the order book for volume at that level when price reaches it.

There are several different types of dark pools: broker or dealer-owned exchanges, such as Morgan Stanley's MS Pool and Goldman Sachs' Sigma X; independently owned exchanges offering private trading to their clients; and private exchange markets operated by public exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange's ...

Advantages of Dark Pools

• Private trading. Dark pools allow for trading execution away from the spotlight of public markets.
• Avoidance of price devaluation. As mentioned earlier, dark pools allow large trades to be made with reduced fear of front running.
• Increased market efficiency and liquidity.

Certificates Of Deposit (CDs) Financial institutions offer CDs that come with a fixed interest rate and a set time period. Although these savings accounts guarantee a return, their liquidity is low during the tenure as early withdrawal incurs several penalties.

Cash is the most liquid asset, followed by cash equivalents, which are things like money market accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs), or time deposits. Marketable securities, such as stocks and bonds listed on exchanges, are often very liquid and can be sold quickly via a broker.