Frequently Asked Questions

Blue Ocean Technologies (BOT) is a fintech company focused on providing after hours trading and data solutions to global investors. It was founded by trading industry veterans in 2016 with the vision of evolving market structure to make trading more accessible for all investors after traditional US eastern time trading hours.

BOT created an alternative trading system (ATS), Blue Ocean ATS to match buy/sell orders of US National Market System (NMS) stocks during US overnight hours, from 8:00 PM ET – 4:00 AM ET (Sunday – Thursday).

Blue Ocean Technologies is the parent company of Blue Ocean ATS, LLC, a registered US broker dealer, and the operator of the Blue Ocean alternative trading system (“BOATS”). Blue Ocean ATS, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Blue Ocean Technologies, LLC.

Click here to view on the SEC official website

Click below to view Form ATS-N Exhibits:

• • Exhibit 1 – The most recently filed or amended Schedule A of Form BD for the Broker-Dealer Operator disclosing information related to direct owners and executive officers.
  • Exhibit 2 – The most recently filed or amended Schedule B of Form BD for the Broker-Dealer Operator disclosing information related to indirect owners.

BOATS is an alternative trading system (ATS) for matching orders in US National Market System (NMS) stocks. BOATS is fully electronic and transparent. Subscribers to the ATS have access to the live, actionable quotes displayed on the ATS.

The core offering is the Blue Ocean Session, which operates overnight in the US from 8:00 PM ET- 4:00 AM ET (Sunday-Thursday).  It operates only on those calendar days when the NYSE Trade Report Facility (TRF) is open for reporting the following morning. Trades executed between 8:00 PM ET and 12:00 AM ET will carry a trade date of the following trade day. Settlement date will reflect the first business day following the transaction (T+1).

For example, when operating from Sunday evening at 8:00 PM to 4:00 AM ET Monday morning, the trades executed during that session will be reported to the NYSE TRF no later than 8:15 AM ET that same Monday morning.

Alternatively, the ATS does not open at 8:00 PM ET on Friday evening, because the NYSE TRF is not available for the reporting of trades on Saturday.

Subscribers must be US broker dealers registered with the SEC and a member of at least one US self-regulatory organization (SRO).

If you are not a US broker dealer, you may access the ATS via a US broker dealer who is a Subscriber. Retail investors, institutional investors, and foreign financial institutions should reach out to their preferred US brokerage firm and request access to Blue Ocean ATS.

National Market System (NMS) stocks are eligible to trade on the ATS.

NMS stocks include ETFs (exchange traded funds), single-name stocks (i.e., stocks of individual companies) and ADRs (American Depositary Receipts).

Blue Ocean ATS only accepts limit day (session) orders. Limit orders entered during the Blue Ocean Session will only remain in force during that session – orders do not carry over to the next Blue Ocean Session.

No, though it is similar in that no new technology/protocol is required:

• Stocks are NMS stocks
• BOATS is FIX 5.0 compatible (Financial Information eXchange).
• Trades are cleared by BOATS’ clearing firm through NSCC and DTCC.
• Trades are reported to the FINRA Trade Reporting Facility (NYSE TRF) and FINRA CAT.

Please click on the following link to learn more about trading risks associated with trading during off regular session hours: Disclosure

BOATS employs a 20% price band during its trading session. Orders entered into the ATS at the open and during the trading session that are priced at more than 20% away from the reference price for that NMS Stock, the ATS rejects the order.  The reference price is the last sale price for each security printed on a national securities exchange as of 7:30 ET.  In addition to the 20% risk check, BOATS also employs single order share size and notional value checks on each order.

We provide subscribers with full depth-of-quote data, which can be delivered directly or in conjunction with Subscribers’ third-party data vendors. During the Blue Ocean Session, all trading information (order entry, executions, cancellations, etc.) are delivered electronically via FIX messaging.

Only US broker dealers are eligible to subscribe directly to BOATS.  All others, US broker dealers who are not Subscribers, non-US broker dealers, institutional and retail clients and foreign financial institutions must connect to the ATS via an eligible US broker dealer Subscriber – please contact our team to inquire about how you can access BOATS.

Blue Ocean ATS (BOATS) has developed a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that includes the ability to recover from situations including, but not limited to floods, power outages and any facility failures that may cause business interruptions.

Though BOATS does not maintain a redundant recovery site, the key features of the Boats’ BCP include annual review of the following: 1) identification of all mission critical systems (and system back-up and recovery for such systems), 2) review of financial and operation risks, 3) systems and telecommunication accessibility 4) alternate communications between BOATS, its subscribers, employees and regulators and critical business constituents.

Although no contingency plan can eliminate all risk of service interruption, BOATS assesses and updates its BCP to mitigate reasonable risks. While the specific details of our BCP are proprietary and contain information which is confidential, BOATS policy is to respond to a significant business disruption by safeguarding employees lives and firm property, making a financial and operational assessment, quickly recovering, and resuming operations, protecting the Firm’s books and records, and allowing subscribers to continue to transact business. As we continue to test our plans and as conditions in our firm and the industry change, we will revise the plan accordingly and as considered necessary.