A broker-dealer is an organization that trades securities for its own account or on behalf of its customers. It's as simple as that: when this organization is executing trade orders on behalf of its customer, the institution is said to be acting as a "broker"; when this organization executing trades for its own account, the institution is said to be acting as a "dealer." Securities bought from clients or other firms in the competence of dealer may be sold to clients or other firms acting again in the competence of dealer, or they may become a part of the firm's holdings.
Although many broker-dealers are "independent" firms solely involved in broker-dealer services, many others are business units or subsidiaries of banks (commercial or investment) or investment companies - these are known as "institutional" investors.
To review the National and Regional broker-dealer and their performance click the corresponding text.
Follow by recent transactions of institutional investors may help individual investor/trader make wise investment decisions. We highly recommend to bookmark and visit this link frequently.
For greater details on broker-dealer rules and policies please follow the NASAA Broker-Dealer Resources.