<p>Major trading exchanges have order books that anyone can see, if they're willing to pay for the service. So in that sense, they are available to the public. For example, anyone can subscribe via a broker to the London Stock Exchange Level 2 data, which shows them the live order books for listed instruments.</p>

<p>Very few have "secret" order books. I think you mean dark pools; they do exist too, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_liquidity#List_of_dark_pools" rel="nofollow">wikipedia has a list</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-01T15:06:53.343Z
2016-04-01T15:06:53.343Z
410 gone
<p>The <a href="http://steamcommunity.com/market/listings/440/Mann%20Co.%20Supply%20Crate%20Key" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Steam Community Market</a> has an order book that is at least partially open:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/P2mc6.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/P2mc6.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-01T15:30:49.083Z
I am interested in major economic exchanges trading real commodities that are of economic significance, not small experimental exchanges. I only cited Bitstamp to give an example of the type of data fields I am seeking, not as an example of a data source.
Lassie Fair
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-01T15:23:21.040Z
2016-04-01T15:23:21.040Z
Ubiquitous
<p>Most major exchanges seem to have secret order books.</p>

<p>For example, on the NYSE only the specialists know the order books.</p>

<p>On the NASDAQ only the market maker can see the order book.</p>

<p>On Globex, the full order book (Level 6) is kept secret.</p>

<p>Are there any major exchanges with a public order book?</p>

<p>Example of a public order book:</p>

<p><a href="https://www.bitstamp.net/market/order_book/" rel="nofollow">https://www.bitstamp.net/market/order_book/</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-01T05:30:34.680Z
(+1) Interesting question— to clarify, are you interested in commodities markets specifically (you mention NYSE and NASDAQ, both equities, not commodities markets), or exchanges generally? And what's the threshold for it to be public in your opinion? I suspect that with Reg NMS and the proliferation of order types, the answer is no, for a number of reasons, not least of which being that a public order book advantages liquidity takers at the expense of providers (whether this is worth the decreased transparency is an open question).
dismalscience
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-01T14:32:53.997Z
Any kind of economic exchange. By public I mean they publish the order book. I have added an example of a public order book to clarify the data I expect.
Lassie Fair
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-01T14:48:46.750Z
Oh, you're looking for far less information than I was thinking. NYSE OpenBook provides that to the public. It's not free, but it is available (even most online brokerages offer it).
dismalscience
<data-request><stock-market><commodities>
Are there any major commodity markets with a public order book?
Lassie Fair
# Are there any major commodity markets with a public order book?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-31)

Most major exchanges seem to have secret order books.

For example, on the NYSE only the specialists know the order books.

On the NASDAQ only the market maker can see the order book.

On Globex, the full order book (Level 6) is kept secret.

Are there any major exchanges with a public order book?

Example of a public order book:

<https://www.bitstamp.net/market/order_book/>

**Tags:** data-request, stock-market, commodities

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: (+1) Interesting question— to clarify, are you interested in commodities markets specifically (you mention NYSE and NASDAQ, both equities, not commodities markets), or exchanges generally? And what's the threshold for it to be public in your opinion? I suspect that with Reg NMS and the proliferation of order types, the answer is no, for a number of reasons, not least of which being that a public order book advantages liquidity takers at the expense of providers (whether this is worth the decreased transparency is an open question).  
> **username_0**: Any kind of economic exchange. By public I mean they publish the order book. I have added an example of a public order book to clarify the data I expect.  
> **username_1**: Oh, you're looking for far less information than I was thinking. NYSE OpenBook provides that to the public. It's not free, but it is available (even most online brokerages offer it).  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-04-01. Score: 3

Major trading exchanges have order books that anyone can see, if they're willing to pay for the service. So in that sense, they are available to the public. For example, anyone can subscribe via a broker to the London Stock Exchange Level 2 data, which shows them the live order books for listed instruments.

Very few have "secret" order books. I think you mean dark pools; they do exist too, and [wikipedia has a list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_liquidity#List_of_dark_pools).


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### Answer by username_3 on 2016-04-01. Score: 1

The [Steam Community Market](http://steamcommunity.com/market/listings/440/Mann%20Co.%20Supply%20Crate%20Key) has an order book that is at least partially open:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/P2mc6.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/P2mc6.png)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I am interested in major economic exchanges trading real commodities that are of economic significance, not small experimental exchanges. I only cited Bitstamp to give an example of the type of data fields I am seeking, not as an example of a data source.  

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