A New Tool for Investors: Securitized Product Tables Launched by FINRA

On October 18th, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced that, together with Interactive Data Corporation, it has created market activity and pricing-related securitized product tables. These tables will provide market participants, including investors, valuable insight in investing in asset and mortgage-backed securities. The data from the table are the figures that have been reported to the Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine, or TRACE, a reporting and dissemination service that consolidates transaction data for fixed income real-time transactions.

Because the tables will be updated after market close every trading day, they offer an aggregate summary of the U.S. securitized products market by asset class on a daily basis. Included in the United States Structured Trading Activity Report are number of trades, number of unique securities transacted and volume of transactions. This information will allow investors to more ably gauge market sentiment and liquidity. Asset class categories within the tables include volume by trade size, buy or sell information, and average prices. Finally, aggregated price levels and volume of MBS pass-through securities and TBAs, CMBS, ABS, Agency and Non-Agency CMOS and CDOs are shown by the five pricing tables.

“For the first time, securitized products data, including pricing tables and a market activity table — based on actual, consolidated transaction information — will be available to the public,” according to FINRA executive vice president of transparency services Steven Joachim. “Dissemination of these tables is the first step FINRA plans to take toward increased transparency in the securitized product market.”

This new tool is yet another action FINRA has taken to educate investors so that they can make more informed decisions and help protect themselves against broker misconduct. The new tables are available on the FINRA website, as well as in the Market Data Center.