Order Book

In new securities offerings, the order book contains the orders submitted by investors that includes the size of the order and any price limits. The book is maintained by lead underwriters. As the book develops, underwriters disseminate book updates detailing the volume of orders submitted, the number of investors in the book, and any adjustments to indicated pricing as a result. Once a new issue has concluded, underwriters will distribute final book statistics, typically containing the number of investors, volume of orders, breakdown by geography and breakdown by type of investor. In a trading and investing context, an electronic order book creates market transparency by showing executable buy and sell prices, order volumes on each side of the market and depth of orders at each price point on a given security, dynamically updated in real time throughout the trading day, and gives investors equal access to trade at the best price