Retail vs Institutions
Retail vs Institutions is a data page on the Markets desk of Glassbox Auditing. Retail and institutional trading in every covered US-listed company: retail's estimated share of volume (read from subpenny trade prices), the estimated balance of buyer- and seller-initiated trades, blocks, odd lots, off-exchange shares and FINRA's weekly dark-pool mix, each against the stock's own normal. Whether households or funds are doing the trading shapes how a price reacts to news and how much the brokers that route those orders earn.
Last updated: .
What is the latest reading?
Retail share of volume, NVDA: 8.5% as of , -2.6 pts since Oct 2026. Source: Alpaca market data, full-market (SIP) trades and quotes, 16 minutes delayed (free plan), Retail and institutional order flow estimated by the terminal (the subpenny method of Boehmer, Jones, Zhang and Zhang, 2021).
What is on this page today?
- CHYM: other off-exchange share of volume at 39.8% — usual 17.3% · 7.3 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) CHYM
- MXC: midpoint trades' share of volume at 25.7% — usual 3.3% · 7.1 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) MXC
- SLDP: midpoint trades' share of volume at 28.1% — usual 15.7% · 6.7 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) SLDP
- OCC: block trades' share of volume at 7.8% — usual 0.3% · 6.2 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) OCC
- MX: block trades' share of volume at 31.1% — usual 8.0% · 6.1 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) MX
- ROKU: block trades' share of volume at 55.3% — usual 17.7% · 5.2 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) ROKU
- RUM: midpoint trades' share of volume at 29.9% — usual 15.8% · 5.2 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) RUM
- NVMI: retail traders' share of volume at 7.7% — usual 3.2% · 4.9 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) NVMI
- TDS: retail buying imbalance of 57% — usual -2% · 4.5 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) TDS
- PSX: odd-lot share of volume at 51.6% — usual 29.5% · 4.3 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) PSX
- CCL: odd-lot share of volume at 9.3% — usual 5.8% · 4.2 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) CCL
- SSM: midpoint trades' share of volume at 26.9% — usual 7.5% · 4.1 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) SSM
- ADP: odd-lot share of volume at 48.8% — usual 31.2% · 3.9 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) ADP
- ETSY: retail buying imbalance of 36% — usual -1% · 3.9 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) ETSY
- SLND: other off-exchange share of volume at 28.0% — usual 6.9% · 3.8 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) SLND
- QXO: odd-lot share of volume at 5.1% — usual 3.1% · 3.8 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) QXO
- VEEA: odd-lot share of volume at 21.9% — usual 11.0% · 3.8 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) VEEA
- LBRT: odd-lot share of volume at 8.9% — usual 15.3% · 3.8 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) LBRT
- ASTS: odd-lot share of volume at 11.2% — usual 16.5% · 3.7 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) ASTS
- TLN: midpoint trades' share of volume at 18.8% — usual 12.1% · 3.7 standard deviations from its last 60 sessions · estimated from off-exchange prints (FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades), 6 Nov 2026) TLN
Where does the data come from?
Items on this page come from FINRA TRF (off-exchange trades). Each item links to its own source. All sources, how items are checked.
What does this page lead to?
- Company (Companies): Retail orders routed to wholesalers earn brokers payment for order flow, so a rise in retail's share of volume feeds transaction revenue at retail brokers. (moves the same way; next quarter; company scale) Source: Brokers' quarterly results releases on SEC EDGAR (Robinhood, Schwab, Interactive Brokers, Futu, Webull).
- Stock by Stock (Markets): A spike in a stock's retail share or its estimated trade balance sits beside its own move on Stock by Stock; the estimate is a proxy read from trade prices, not a record of who traded. (either way, depending on the cause; same day; company scale) Source: Retail and institutional order flow estimated by the terminal (the subpenny method of Boehmer, Jones, Zhang and Zhang, 2021).
- Company Options (Options): A fail is a sale that did not settle on its due date; most clear within days. Dealers hedge option trades in the shares, and a hedge sold short can leave a delivery open, so heavy option volume is one place a stock's fails can come from. The file does not say why; a fail is not by itself evidence of wrongdoing. (either way, depending on the cause; same day; company scale) Source: SEC Fails-to-Deliver data (twice-monthly, shares not delivered on time per security).
- Short Interest (Markets): Retail share and trade balance are read from each day's prints; short interest is the position FINRA's member firms report twice a month. The Short Interest board sets the same names' positions side by side. (either way, depending on the cause; twice monthly; company scale) Source: FINRA Equity Short Interest (twice-monthly).
- Household Finances (Macro): Retail's estimated net buying is household money moving into stocks, part of what the Fed's quarterly accounts record as households' direct equity holdings. (moves the same way; next quarterly release; economy scale) Source: Federal Reserve Distributional Financial Accounts.
- Influence Sentiment (People & Money): Institutions' trades show on the tape day to day as blocks and off-exchange prints, and their positions surface in 13F holdings reports up to 45 days after each quarter ends. (either way, depending on the cause; up to 45 days after quarter end; company scale) Source: SEC Form 13F holdings reports (EDGAR).
- Company Reports (Calendar): Retail trading in a stock tends to jump around its results day, when attention peaks, so a retail-share spike often lines up with a date on Company Reports. (either way, depending on the cause; results day; company scale) Source: Retail and institutional order flow estimated by the terminal (the subpenny method of Boehmer, Jones, Zhang and Zhang, 2021).
What feeds this page?
- Today (Briefing): Tickers most named on Reddit tend to draw heavier retail order flow, which shows in the retail share of their trading. (moves the same way; same day; company scale) Source: Arctic Shift Reddit archive (every public post and comment, archived as it is made).
- Reddit (Feed): Stocks with a jump in mentions on the trading subreddits tend to see retail's share of their volume rise the same day, since many posters trade the names they discuss. (moves the same way; same day; company scale) Source: Arctic Shift Reddit archive (every public post and comment, archived as it is made).
- YouTubers (Feed): Finance creators' audiences are mostly retail investors, so a widely watched video on a stock tends to come with a rise in retail's share of its volume. (moves the same way; days; company scale) Source: Retail and institutional order flow estimated by the terminal (the subpenny method of Boehmer, Jones, Zhang and Zhang, 2021).
- Finance (Global Intelligence): Stocks surging in Reddit mentions tend to draw retail orders, which show as a larger retail share of their off-exchange trades on those days. (moves the same way; same day; company scale) Source: Retail and institutional order flow estimated by the terminal (the subpenny method of Boehmer, Jones, Zhang and Zhang, 2021).
- Market Data Access (Markets): More funded brokerage accounts and Level 1 subscribers mean more retail orders, which raises retail's share of the volume Retail vs Institutions estimates. (moves the same way; quarters; economy scale) Source: Brokers' quarterly results releases on SEC EDGAR (Robinhood, Schwab, Interactive Brokers, Futu, Webull).
- Market Behavior (Markets): One template flags a shift of a stock's volume between venues beside a price move; the same venue mix, on and off exchange, is what Retail vs Institutions reads from FINRA's weekly files. (either way, depending on the cause; same day; sector scale) Source: FINRA OTC Transparency weekly summary (dark pool and other off-exchange shares per stock and firm).
- Documentary Watch (People & Money): Individual investors tend to trade the stocks that catch their attention (Barber and Odean, 2008), so widely watched finance videos about a company or fund can add retail order flow in its shares. (moves the same way; days; economy scale) Source: FINAiUS on YouTube (the channel's own video pages, descriptions and chapter lists).