Why it matters
Institutions do not trade at random prices. When a large holder builds or unwinds a position through dark pools, the prints tend to cluster around the prices they were willing to transact at. A stock pulling back toward a level where millions of shares changed hands is returning to a price where size already traded, which is why traders mark it. For how those off-exchange trades reach the public tape in the first place, see how dark pool trading works.
The Dark Pool Levels page turns a stock's prints into that map. Each level carries the shares, the number of prints and the dollar value that made it, plus a strength reading from 0 to 100% that ranks it against the other levels in the window, with the strongest at 100%. The chart draws levels below the price in green and levels above it in red, and the Level Distribution bar shows at a glance whether more of the volume sits above or below where the stock is now.
The Key Levels list is the short version: the most significant levels ranked, with their distance from the current price.
What it does not tell you
- A level is not a promise. Price can slice through the heaviest level on the chart. Levels show where interest was, not where it will be.
- Below and above are relative to now. The same level moves from above the price to below it the moment price crosses it. The labels describe position, not permanence.
- It does not say whether the level was built by buyers or sellers. A dark pool print has no side, so a level built from prints does not either.
- The closing price is always heavy. Closing-auction volume reports as prints at the official close, so the close often shows up as the day's largest level. Read it as the close, not as a decision.
- Bookkeeping reports are excluded. Average-price, late and similar reports stay in the feed but are left out of levels, so a giant off-market print will not create a level.
What it looks like in the data
NVDA closed the September 14, 2026 session at $210.96 after trading between $208.93 and $212.77. Its dark pool levels for the session bracketed the close.
Levels from the session's 444 live prints. The strongest level sat at the close itself, built largely by closing-auction prints. Levels below the close clustered at $210.40 to $210.66 and levels above it at $212.08 to $212.30. Not a recommendation.
| Level | Type | Shares | Prints | Premium | Distance from close |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $212.30 | Above price | 42,000 | 6 | $8.9M | +0.6% |
| $212.20 | Above price | 51,697 | 8 | $11.0M | +0.6% |
| $212.08 | Above price | 64,017 | 7 | $13.6M | +0.5% |
| $210.96 | Close | 780,806 | 19 | $164.7M | 0.0% |
| $210.66 | Below price | 65,782 | 4 | $13.9M | −0.1% |
| $210.45 | Below price | 60,968 | 2 | $12.8M | −0.2% |
| $210.40 | Below price | 43,808 | 4 | $9.2M | −0.3% |
Read together: a tight band of large prints within a dollar either side of the close, with slightly more size stacked above it than below. That describes where the large money transacted that day. What the stock did with it the next morning is not something the levels decide.
