Audit Trail System for FINRA
The Order Audit Trail System (OATS) was established by FINRA to create a time-sensitive audit trail for order, quote, and trade information. OATS provides a timed record of the sequence of events involved. Specifically, OATS records the time an order is entered, the time it is executed, and the time it is modified or cancelled. Broker-dealers must record these events as they occur throughout the day (within one second of when they actually occurred).
In addition, broker-dealers must submit daily reports to OATS for all open or executed trades. Information to be reported includes the source of each order and the time of receipt, the amount,