Glossary · Dark pool

Dark Pool Print

A dark pool print is one executed stock trade in a dark pool, a private venue where institutions trade large blocks without displaying their orders. The trade is reported to the public tape after it happens, and the print is that report: the time, the number of shares, the price and the dollar value.

Why it matters

Institutions move size in dark pools precisely so that the order book does not see them coming. But the trade itself does not stay hidden. Once it executes, it has to be reported, and that report is what the Dark Pool feed streams: every print, across every stock, as it reaches the tape. For a trader, prints are the closest thing to watching large holders actually transact.

A single print tells you that a block of a given size changed hands at a given price. A stream of them tells you more. Prints that cluster at one price over a session become a dark pool level, a price where institutions showed real interest, and those levels often matter to the stock later. Prints that stack up on one ticker on one day show where the size is concentrated, which is what the feed's Top Premium panel ranks.

Each row in the feed carries six columns: Time, Symbol, Size, Price, Premium and Report. The last one matters. A print marked Live is a live block execution. Any other chip means the row was reported for bookkeeping, which the trade conditions page explains.

What it does not tell you

  • It does not name the venue. The public tape does not identify which dark pool a print came from. Robinflow shows the print, not the pool.
  • It does not say buy or sell. A print is a match between a buyer and a seller. Nothing in the report says which side initiated it, so a dark pool print is not bullish or bearish on its own.
  • It does not say who. No participant is identified. Institutional is a reasonable inference from the size; it is still an inference.
  • Some prints are not trades in the usual sense. Average-price reports, late reports and other bookkeeping entries look like giant prints. The Report column separates them from live blocks.

What it looks like in the data

At 10:55 am on September 14, 2026, a block of 52,868 NVDA shares printed off-exchange at $210.45, the largest live print of the morning in a session that saw 444 prints and $890 million of dark pool volume in the stock.

NVDA Nvidia
52,868Shares
$210.45Price
$11.1MPremium
LiveReport

Printed at 10:55:45 am ET. The stock closed the session at $210.96, so the block went off 0.2% below the close. Report: Live, a live block execution that counts toward rankings and levels. Not a recommendation.

Column Value How to read it
Time 10:55:45 am ET When the print executed
Symbol NVDA Click for the quick view in the app
Size 52,868 Shares traded
Price $210.45 Execution price
Premium $11.1M Shares × price
Report Live Live block execution, not a bookkeeping report

Read together: one large holder moved eleven million dollars of stock in one piece, at a price the stock later closed almost exactly on. Whether they were buying or selling, the print does not say.

Frequently Asked Questions

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