💡 Why You Never See Big Orders on the NSE — The Truth About Disclosed Quantities and Nominee Accounts

📊 Why Traders Use Disclosed Quantities

When a trader places a large buy or sell order, they can choose to show only part of it to the market — this visible part is called the disclosed quantity.

Example

A trader wants to buy 100,000 Safaricom shares but sets the disclosed quantity at 10,000.

Here’s what happens:

• The full 100,000 order is entered into the system.
• The market depth window only shows 10,000.
• As each 10,000 is matched, the system automatically releases the next 10,000 — until the entire 100,000 is completed.

So even though the screen only shows 10,000, the system will execute all 100,000 once sufficient matching volume appears.

🎯 Why Traders Do This

1. 1️⃣ Avoid Price Impact
   If everyone saw a 100,000-buy order, sellers would increase their price immediately. By showing only 10,000, the trader buys quietly without pushing prices up.
2. 2️⃣ Hide True Intentions
   Large investors don’t want the market to know they’re accumulating or distributing. Small traders might front-run the move or react emotionally if they saw big orders.
3. 3️⃣ Control Visibility While Ensuring Execution
   Only the disclosed quantity appears publicly, but the entire order is queued in the ATS (Automated Trading System) for full execution when matching volume becomes available.

🏦 How “Big Wings” (Institutions, Funds & Politically Exposed Investors) Buy at the NSE

1. Orders are placed through nominee accounts — often used by:
   • Institutional funds (pension, unit trusts, insurers)
   • Politicians and high-net-worth individuals
   • Foreign investors seeking confidentiality
2. The broker inputs the total order (e.g., 500,000 shares) but sets a smaller disclosed quantity (e.g., 5,000).
3. The order keeps refreshing in batches as trades are filled — so the true demand is hidden but still executes fully.
4. Final holdings appear under the CDSC account code (not broker code), which masks the ultimate beneficial owner.

🔍 Why You Rarely See Big Orders in Market Depth

• The market depth screen only displays the visible (disclosed) portion of each order.
• The true demand/supply is usually much higher.
• Nominee accounts consolidate many investors, so large accumulations look like normal activity.
• Online trading portals provide additional insights — such as volume changes, executed trades, and watchlist indicators that reveal more context than the depth screen alone.

⚙️ System and Platform Reality

The NSE ATS allows traders to place orders without real-time balance checks because the trading and settlement systems (NSE vs CDSC) are decoupled.

Digital trading platforms, however, add safeguards — they only allow disclosed quantity orders if your account is funded or you already hold the shares. This still gives large investors flexibility to operate quietly while staying compliant.

💡 Market Depth ≠ Full Picture

Market depth provides a quick snapshot of visible demand and supply — but it’s not enough to measure the real market pressure. For better accuracy, check your online trading portal for:

• Watchlist additional columns + trade history (executed vs pending)
• Volume spikes on your watchlist
• Recent price movement and matching patterns

These give a more realistic view of how much true interest exists at each price level.

⚠️ Key Takeaway

Don’t take the market depth screen at face value — what you see is just the surface. Large investors, funds, and politically connected accounts often operate invisibly using:

• Disclosed quantity orders
• Nominee structures

Always analyze total volume, recent trades, and end-of-day summaries for the real story behind the numbers.