FIX Messages: Order Status Is a State, Execution Type Is an Event
Every FIX ExecutionReport carries two fields that sound like they answer the same question — OrdStatus (39) and ExecType (150).
Every FIX ExecutionReport carries two fields that sound like they answer the same question — OrdStatus (39) and ExecType (150). They don't. One is a snapshot of where the order stands right now; the other is what just happened to produce that snapshot. Confusing them is the single most common mistake a new BA or QA engineer makes reading their first execution report — and NSE's refusal to annul a ₹51 crore fat-finger trade in 2012 versus the US market's decision to bust trades in the 2010 Flash Crash shows exactly why the industry needed two separate fields, not one.
Surya · 11 min read