--- title: "Rule 606 Routing Disclosure Explorer" description: "Translate PFOF per-100-share figures into cost impact, analyze routing concentration, and compare hypothetical broker 606 scenarios interactively." canonical: https://www.getswoopr.com/markets/execution/orders-routing-and-fill-quality/rule-606-routing-disclosure-explorer/ source: "Swoopr Investment: https://www.getswoopr.com" --- ## Direct Answer > The Rule 606 routing disclosure explorer translates payment-for-order-flow figures reported per 100 shares into an estimated cost impact, and lets you analyze routing concentration and compare hypothetical broker profiles side by side. SEC Rule 606 requires brokers to disclose where retail orders are routed and what payments they receive for that flow, and this tool interprets those disclosed figures rather than pulling live account data. # Rule 606 Routing Disclosure Explorer Translate PFOF per-100-share figures into real cost impact, analyze routing concentration risk, and compare hypothetical broker profiles side by side, all from publicly disclosed Rule 606 data. **Educational tool only.** This explorer uses hypothetical or user-entered illustrative figures only. Do not enter real account IDs, broker credentials, or proprietary data. Outputs are educational scenarios, not investment advice, legal opinions, or assessments of any specific broker's compliance. All regulatory figures should be verified at [SEC.gov](https://www.sec.gov) and your broker's official 606 report. ## Rule 606 Routing Disclosure Explorer Work through each section to build a complete picture of routing economics. Use figures from a broker's public Rule 606(a) report, or enter hypothetical values to explore how the numbers interact. No account credentials or private data are needed or accepted. 0 of 4 sections completed 1 Your Trading Profile Not started ▼ Set your order context. These choices affect how PFOF figures translate into cost impact in later sections. Primary order type The category you use most often Select one Market orders Marketable limit orders Non-marketable limit orders Mixed (primarily market + marketable limit) Typical stock size Affects typical PFOF ranges Select one Large-cap (S&P 500) Mid-cap Small-cap / micro-cap Listed options Estimated monthly shares traded Your total share volume per month across all orders 10,000 Typical stock price (USD) Used to convert per-share PFOF into basis points $50 2 PFOF Cost Translator Not started ▼ Enter the net PFOF per-100-shares figure from a broker's Rule 606(a) report. This section translates it into monthly and annual implied cost, and converts it to basis points against your typical stock price. Use the figure for the order type you selected above. Enter figures from a public Rule 606 report or use illustrative values. Do not enter account IDs, passwords, or proprietary system data. Broker label (optional nickname) Any label, no real account ID needed Net PFOF per 100 shares (USD) From the 606 report's "net payment received" column Primary venue type From the report's venue list Select venue type Wholesaler / market maker (PFOF) Regulated exchange (rebate model) Alternative Trading System (ATS / dark pool) Broker internalization desk Top-venue concentration (%) % of that order category routed to this venue Calculate cost impact **Important:** PFOF figures alone do not determine execution quality. Cross-reference with Rule 605 effective spread and price improvement data for the same broker and quarter. See [How to read SEC Rule 606 reports](https://www.getswoopr.com/markets/execution/orders-routing-and-fill-quality/how-to-read-sec-rule-606-routing-disclosures/). 3 Multi-Broker Comparison Not started ▼ Compare up to three broker scenarios side by side. Use PFOF-per-100-shares and routing-concentration figures from the same quarter's Rule 606(a) reports to ensure a fair comparison. The tool auto-populates Broker A from Section 2 if you completed it. For a valid comparison, use the same order category (market orders vs. marketable limit orders) and the same reporting quarter for all brokers. A #### Broker A Label PFOF per 100 shares ($) Top-venue concentration (%) Venue type Select Wholesaler Exchange ATS Internal B #### Broker B Label PFOF per 100 shares ($) Top-venue concentration (%) Venue type Select Wholesaler Exchange ATS Internal C #### Broker C (optional) Label PFOF per 100 shares ($) Top-venue concentration (%) Venue type Select Wholesaler Exchange ATS Internal Compare brokers ### PFOF per 100 shares, broker comparison ### Routing concentration, broker comparison | Broker | PFOF / 100 shares | Concentration | Venue type | Monthly cost est.* | Cost (bps) | PFOF flag | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | * Monthly cost estimate uses the trading profile from Section 1. Bps = basis points against the stock price entered in Section 1. These are payment received by the broker, not necessarily equivalent cost to the customer, see Rule 605 data for execution quality. PFOF flag: Low (<$0.05), Moderate ($0.05-$0.14), High ($0.15-$0.24), Very High (≥$0.25). 4 606 Report Reading Checklist 0 / 8 steps ▼ Work through this checklist each time you analyze a Rule 606(a) report. Check each step only when you have verified it against the actual document. - **Confirm broker identity and quarter.** Verify the report is from the specific broker you are evaluating and covers the exact quarter you intend to analyze. Don't assume a report is current, check the period covered. - **Select the correct order category.** Identify which section (market orders, marketable limit orders, non-marketable limit orders, or other) applies to your actual order behavior. Don't read aggregate figures when your trades are concentrated in one category. - **Record the net payment per 100 shares.** This is the primary normalized, cross-broker-comparable figure. Note whether the report states net (gross PFOF minus access fees) or gross, the 2019 amendments require net disclosure for covered brokers. - **Identify top-venue concentration.** Note the percentage of that order category routed to the single largest venue. Flag if one venue receives 80% or more, high concentration creates a significant documented routing relationship with that counterparty. - **Identify the payment structure type.** Determine whether the compensation is PFOF from a wholesaler, a maker rebate from an exchange, or internalization profit. These represent structurally different conflicts of interest and are subject to different regulatory treatment. - **Request a 606(b)(3) customer-specific report if eligible.** If your broker is subject to the 2019 amendments (handles >100,000 non-directed orders/month), you can request a report specific to your account covering the prior six months. This is more informative than the aggregate. - **Locate the matching Rule 605 execution-quality report.** Find the 605 report for the primary venues identified in the 606 report, for the same quarter. Rule 605 reports are published by market centers and, under the 2024 amendments, by broker-dealers that introduce or carry 100,000 or more customer accounts; they include effective spread, price improvement rate and fill speed. - **Compare same quarter across brokers.** When comparing multiple brokers' 606 reports, confirm all reports cover the same calendar quarter. Market conditions, volatility regimes, and order mix differ seasonally, cross-quarter comparisons confound routing-policy differences with market differences. Check each step to track your progress. ✓ Analysis Summary Ready Print / export Reset tool Generate analysis summary Clear all ## Frequently asked questions ### What exactly does "net PFOF per 100 shares" mean in a Rule 606 report? Net payment for order flow per 100 shares is the broker's net financial compensation for routing an order category to a particular venue, normalized per 100 shares of order volume. Rule 606(a)(1) requires a broker to report, for each major venue and order type, the net aggregate payment for order flow received, profit-sharing payments received, transaction fees paid and transaction rebates received, each as a total dollar amount and per share. A figure of $0.18 means the broker received, on net, 18 cents for every 100 shares routed to that venue in that order category during the quarter. The 2019 amendments to Rule 606 required net rather than gross disclosure to make the true economics more transparent. If the figure is negative (rare). The broker paid more in access fees than it received in routing compensation. ### Does a higher PFOF figure always mean worse fills for me? No, not as a mechanical relationship, and not directly from Rule 606 data alone. A higher PFOF figure documents that the broker received more compensation for routing those orders, which creates a documented financial incentive to continue routing to that venue. Whether that incentive translated into worse fills for customers is an empirical question answered by Rule 605 execution-quality data, not by the routing report. Academic research and SEC economic analyses have found mixed results: some wholesalers that pay higher PFOF also provide price improvement above the NBBO midpoint; others have not. The correct analytical sequence is to read 606 for the routing and payment structure, then read 605 for effective spread, price improvement rate, and fill speed before drawing conclusions. ### What does routing concentration tell me, and when does it matter? Routing concentration, the percentage of a specific order category sent to a single venue, tells you how dependent the broker's routing is on one counterparty. When a single venue receives 80-90% or more of a broker's market orders, it means: (a) the broker has a concentrated financial relationship with that venue, (b) your order flow is very likely going to that venue, and (c) any execution-quality issues at that venue affect nearly all of your orders in that category. High concentration is not inherently bad, a venue providing exceptional price improvement might reasonably attract a high share, but it does mean the execution outcome for customers in that category is highly correlated with how well that single venue performs. Low concentration, with flow split across multiple venues including regulated exchanges, generally indicates the broker uses more competitive routing logic. ### What is the 606(b)(3) individual report, and how do I request it? Rule 606(b)(3) requires a broker-dealer to give a customer who places not held orders in NMS stocks a report on how those orders were handled over the prior six months, within seven business days of a request. A broker is exempt if not held orders were under 5% of the NMS stock shares it received from customers in that period, and a customer who averaged under $1,000,000 a month in not held notional value is excluded. A customer who trades not held orders can request a report showing, by venue and month for the prior six months, the shares routed, the fill rate and the average net execution fee or rebate. A customer with ordinary held orders can request under Rule 606(b)(1) only the venue each order was routed to, whether it was directed, and the time of any resulting transaction. It is more informative than the public aggregate report because it reflects your actual order mix. To request it, contact your broker's compliance department or customer service and ask specifically for a Rule 606(b)(3) customer report. Not all broker-dealers are subject to this requirement, smaller firms handling fewer orders are exempt. Verify your broker's coverage status on their regulatory disclosures page. ### Why do I have to read Rule 605 reports alongside Rule 606 reports? Because the two rules measure different things. Rule 606 measures where orders went and what the broker was paid for routing them. Rule 605 measures how well those orders were executed, specifically, the effective spread (actual execution cost to the customer), the price improvement rate (how often the fill beat the NBBO quote), fill rates, and execution speed. Without 605 data, you know the routing economics but not the customer outcome. A broker earning low PFOF and routing primarily to exchanges may still deliver worse effective spreads than a wholesaler-heavy broker if the exchange routing model produces more rejects or partial fills. The 605/606 comparison is the minimum analysis required to draw meaningful conclusions about broker execution quality. ### Can I use this tool to evaluate a specific broker's actual compliance? No. This tool is an educational scenario explorer, it helps you understand how PFOF figures translate into cost impact, what routing concentration means, and how to structure a 606/605 analysis. It uses hypothetical or user-entered illustrative values and produces educational output, not regulatory findings or legal assessments. For actual compliance evaluation, broker-dealer auditing, or regulatory comparison, consult the broker's official Rule 606 filings on their website, cross-reference with FINRA BrokerCheck and SEC EDGAR disclosures, and if needed, work with a qualified financial or legal professional. This tool does not accept real account numbers, proprietary data, or confidential broker information. ### How is the PFOF cost estimate in this tool calculated? The monthly PFOF estimate is: (monthly shares ÷ 100) × net PFOF per 100 shares. This gives you the total compensation the broker received from routing your approximate share volume during a month. It is not a direct cost charged to you, PFOF is paid by the venue to the broker, not deducted from your account. The relevant question is whether that compensation arrangement caused the venue to execute your orders at prices slightly less favorable than what a venue with no payment relationship might have provided. That difference, if it exists, would appear in Rule 605 effective spread data, not in Rule 606 figures. The basis-point calculation divides the PFOF per share by the stock price and multiplies by 10,000, giving you a way to contextualize the payment against the price of the asset being traded. ### What changed in the 2019 Rule 606 amendments that matters most to retail investors? Three changes matter most. First, the 2019 amendments required net payment disclosure rather than gross, brokers must now report PFOF received minus venue access fees paid, making the true economics visible rather than just the headline payment. Second, the amendments created the 606(b)(3) customer-specific report requirement for larger broker-dealers, giving retail investors the right to see where their own orders went (not just the broker-wide aggregate). Third, the amendments expanded the data fields required in the public aggregate report, making cross-broker comparison more standardized. Before the 2019 amendments took effect (phased in from mid-2019), the public reports contained less granular payment data and did not include a per-100-shares normalized figure, making cross-broker comparison significantly harder. Any analysis relying on pre-2019 reports should note the regulatory period explicitly when comparing with modern data. ### What does the tool assume about the orders being modelled? It works from the aggregate figures a broker publishes, which cover all customer orders of a given type rather than any individual trading pattern. An account whose orders are consistently larger, smaller, more marketable or concentrated in different securities than the broker's average will experience something different from what the aggregate implies. The output describes the disclosed population, and applying it to one account carries that assumption. ## Related Reading - [How to Read SEC Rule 606 DisclosuresFull guide: definitions, worked examples, and what the report can't tell you.](https://www.getswoopr.com/markets/execution/orders-routing-and-fill-quality/how-to-read-sec-rule-606-routing-disclosures/) - [Payment for Order Flow & Routing ConflictsThe structural conflict behind PFOF and how brokers navigate it.](https://www.getswoopr.com/markets/execution/orders-routing-and-fill-quality/payment-for-order-flow-and-routing-conflicts/) - [Best Execution: What Brokers Owe YouThe regulatory standard and how it interacts with routing economics.](https://www.getswoopr.com/markets/execution/orders-routing-and-fill-quality/best-execution-what-brokers-owe-customers/) - [Price Improvement & Effective SpreadThe Rule 605 counterpart: how execution quality is measured.](https://www.getswoopr.com/markets/execution/orders-routing-and-fill-quality/price-improvement-and-effective-spread/) - [Market Structure & Trade Execution](https://www.getswoopr.com/markets/execution/) - [Orders, Routing & Fill Quality](https://www.getswoopr.com/markets/execution/orders-routing-and-fill-quality/) - [Execution Cost Calculator](https://www.getswoopr.com/tools/execution-cost-calculator/) - [Order Simulator](https://www.getswoopr.com/learn/order-simulator/) - [Common Order Routing and Fill Quality Mistakes](https://www.getswoopr.com/markets/execution/orders-routing-and-fill-quality/common-order-routing-and-fill-quality-mistakes/) a companion guide in this cluster - [Execution Quality Comparator](https://www.getswoopr.com/markets/execution/orders-routing-and-fill-quality/execution-quality-comparator/) a companion guide in this cluster ## References - [SEC: 2018 Rule 606 Amendments (Disclosure of Order Handling Information)](https://www.sec.gov/rules-regulations/2018/11/disclosure-order-handling-information) - [SEC: Regulation NMS Rule 605/606 FAQs](https://www.sec.gov/rules-regulations/staff-guidance/trading-markets-frequently-asked-questions-0) - [FINRA Rule 5310: Best Execution and Interpositioning](https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/rulebooks/finra-rules/5310)