What is Drop Copy?
Drop-copy sessions are read-only FIX sessions that cannot be used to enter, modify, or cancel orders. Instead, they provide a separate feed of execution activity, allowing participants to monitor their trading activity through an independent connection. The Drop Copy FIX feed provides execution reports to exchange participants and third-party service providers. The service can be configured to provide data for a specific participant, clearing member, or all participants. Drop copies provided via this service will include all execution reports regardless if the orders or quotes were sent via a FIX session or the REST API.Common Use Cases
Drop-copy sessions are commonly used for:- Regulatory compliance and audit trails - Maintain a complete record of all order activity
- Real-time risk management - Monitor fills and positions without exposing order-entry capabilities
- Back-office reconciliation - Feed execution data to separate systems for settlement and accounting
- Clearing firm oversight - Allow clearing firms to monitor client execution activity
Session Configuration
Drop-copy sessions use the same FIXT 1.1 / FIX 5.0 SP2 protocol as order-entry sessions, but with different credentials and typically connect to a different endpoint. Contact the exchange operator to provision drop-copy session access.Messages Received
Drop-copy sessions receive unsolicited ExecutionReport messages for all order activity, including:- Order acknowledgements
- Order fills
- Order cancellations
- Order modifications
- Order rejections
- Order expirations
For detailed field specifications of the ExecutionReport message, see ExecutionReport Message.