FINRA ORF

Unlike the Trade Reporting Facilities (TRFs) and Alternative Display Facility (ADF), which handle the reporting of off-exchange trades in exchange-listed securities (also called NMS equity securities), the ORF is dedicated to reporting trades in unlisted securities, or OTC equity securities.

A common source of confusion regarding the ORF lies in the term "over-the-counter" (OTC), which can refer to either OTC securities or OTC (off-exchange) trading.

• NMS securities are listed on national exchanges like the NYSE and Nasdaq.
• OTC securities, on the other hand, are not listed on these exchanges. Instead, they are traded on venues operated by OTC Markets Group, Inc., such as OTCQX, OTCQB, and Pink Markets (formerly known as Pink Sheets).

OTC trading refers broadly to any off-exchange activity, whether it involves the trading of unlisted securities (reported to the ORF) or off-exchange trading of NMS securities (reported to the TRFs)