• Direct market access means direct access to the electronic means and order books of financial market exchanges for transactions.
  • Individual investors generally do not have direct market access but usually rely on an intermediary brokerage firm to execute trades.
  • Investment banks and other merchant firms use sophisticated electronic trading technology that gives them direct market access to exchanges.
  • Selling firms can offer direct market access on a sponsored basis to buying organizations such as hedge funds, pension funds and mutual funds.