How to Read a Trade Confirmation, Line by Line

Read it in this order: what you traded, how many shares, at what price, and in what capacity the firm acted. Then the money lines. Then the dates. A trade confirmation is the record of one transaction, and under SEC Rule 10b-10 (17 CFR 240.10b-10) your broker has to give or send it to you in writing at or before completion of the trade, which in practice means it usually lands in your inbox or the documents tab within a day of the fill.

Most traders glance at the total and move on. That’s fine until the share count is wrong, or the order shows a buy you meant as a sell, or the trade date is a day later than you thought and you’ve just missed a dividend. The confirmation is where those mistakes first become visible, and the sooner you catch one the easier it is to fix.

What Rule 10b-10 says must be on it

The rule sets the minimum. A broker can add more, but these items are required for a stock trade:

• Date and time, or notice that the time is available on written request.
• The identity of the security, the price, and the number of shares.
• The firm’s capacity: agent (for you, another person, or both) or principal.
• If it acted as principal, whether it is a market maker in that security.
• If it acted as agent, the amount of remuneration it received from you, unless that is set by a written agreement that is not based on each transaction.
• For NMS stocks, whether the firm receives payment for order flow.
• On certain principal trades, the reported price, your price and the gap.
• Whether an odd-lot differential or an equivalent fee was paid.
• Where it applies, a statement that the firm is not a SIPC member.

Bonds and other debt securities carry more disclosures, and FINRA Rule 2232 adds markup disclosure for certain retail debt trades.

The lines on a confirmation and what to check

Layouts differ from firm to firm. The content mostly doesn’t. Here is what you’ll typically find and what each line should be checked against.

Line	What it tells you	What to check
Account number	Which account the trade booked to	That it is the account you meant, especially if you hold more than one
Buy or sell	The side of the trade	That it matches the side you entered
Security and CUSIP	The name, symbol and CUSIP identifier	That the symbol is right, since similar tickers get mixed up
Quantity	Shares executed	Against the size you entered; a smaller number means a partial fill
Price	The execution price per share, or an average if several fills were combined	Against your limit, and against where the stock was trading
Order type	Market, limit, stop and so on	That the order went in the way you entered it
Capacity	Agent or principal, and market maker status if principal	How the firm was paid on the trade (below)
Principal amount	Quantity times price	Do the multiplication yourself
Commission or remuneration	What the firm charged you as agent	Against the pricing you agreed to
Markup or markdown	On certain principal trades, the gap between reported price and your price	Whether the difference looks reasonable for the stock
Regulatory fees	Transaction fees passed through, typically on sales	That any fee shows up where you expect it, usually on a sell
Payment for order flow statement	Whether the firm is paid for routing NMS stock orders	Ask in writing if you want the source and nature of the payment
Trade date and time	When the trade executed	That it is the day you traded, and the time if you need it
Settlement date	When cash and shares actually change hands	Most US stock trades settle T+1, one business day after the trade date
Net amount	The total debited or credited	That it equals the principal amount plus or minus every fee line

The settlement date line is the one people skip. It shouldn’t be.

One confirmation, worked through

Say you bought 200 shares on a limit at 42.20. The confirmation arrives with these lines on it. The commission is a made-up figure, and yours will be whatever your account agreement says.

Every number on that confirmation checks. The share count matches the order, the price is inside the limit, the principal amount is the plain product of the two, and the net amount is the principal plus the one fee. If the net amount had come to 8,445.00, there would be a 10.00 gap with no line explaining it, and that is worth a phone call.

The 42.175 figure belongs in your own records. It’s your real cost basis per share once the commission is in, and it’s the number to use when you later work out a gain or loss.

Agent or principal, and why the capacity line matters

When the firm acts as your agent, it went out and bought the shares for you from someone else. You pay it a commission (the confirmation must show the amount unless a written agreement sets it on some basis other than per trade), and for NMS stocks it has to say whether it receives payment for order flow, with the source and nature of that money available if you ask.

When the firm acts as principal, it sold you the shares from its own inventory, or bought yours into it. There may be no commission line at all. On a riskless principal trade in a reported equity, the confirmation shows the reported trade price, the price you got, and the difference: that difference is the markup on a buy or the markdown on a sale, and it’s the firm’s pay for the trade.

The confirmation must also say whether a principal firm is a market maker in the security. Read together, those lines show how the firm made money on your order.

The dates, and where they bite

Both dates appear on the confirmation. The trade date is the day the order executed. Settlement is when the shares and cash actually move, which for most US stock trades is one business day later.

The trade date decides more than people expect. For dividends, it’s the date that tells you whether you bought before the ex-date, so a trader running a dividend capture strategy should look at that line on every buy confirmation before assuming the dividend is coming. A buy you placed late in the session that actually executed the next morning has a different trade date, and the confirmation will show it.

Your tax records usually use the trade date too. File the confirmation where you can find it.

Partial fills and odd lots

An order that fills in pieces can produce several confirmations, one per execution, or a single confirmation with an averaged price. That depends on the broker. Either way, add the share counts up and make sure they reach the quantity you expected, or match what a partially filled order left you holding.

If an odd-lot differential or equivalent fee was paid on the trade, Rule 10b-10 requires the confirmation to say so. Check for it when you trade fewer shares than a round lot.

What to do if something is wrong

Contact the broker promptly. Don’t wait for the next statement, because the longer an error sits the harder it is to unwind, and a wrong side or wrong quantity leaves you carrying risk you never chose to take on.

Have the confirmation in front of you when you call, along with whatever record you have of the order you actually entered, such as the order ticket, the order history screen, or a screenshot, since the broker will compare the two and that comparison goes faster when you can point to the exact line that does not match.

Ask them to put the correction in writing. A corrected confirmation should follow.