A Risk-free principal is a brokerage or dealer firm that simultaneously buys and sells securities in two separate but offsetting transactions, with the purpose of not assuming any market risk Facilitate customer transactions.
Essentially, the company acts as an intermediary between buyers and sellers without the risks associated with holding treasury securities.
A broker acts as a risk-free principal if, at the request of a client, it purchases an asset from the market for its own account (as principal), recording the transaction in its own trading account, or More or less immediately, sell the same asset to the customer (also as principal) at the same price (with "commission") or at markup (without "commission").
This means there are two transactions;
- Relationship between client and risk-free principal (broker)
- Risk-free One between the principal (the broker) and the market (the external counterparty or “liquidity provider”).
Risk-free principal is compensated in one of two ways:
- A Markup The difference between the price at which an asset is purchased on the "market" and the price at which it is sold to a customer.
- A separate payment from a client to a risk-free principal, which sounds like a commission but is not strictly a commission and should be called a “fee”.
It is important to note that risk-free principal trading is subject to regulatory oversight and reporting requirements.
Brokerage firms must disclose their role as risk-free principals for trade confirmations and maintain appropriate records to ensure transparency and compliance with financial regulations.
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