Accountable publisher
Published under the RTX5 Editorial Team byline. It identifies the responsible publishing organization; it does not imply that a named lawyer, regulator, financial adviser, or licensed expert approved this page.
Neutral routing framework
A-book and B-book describe routing choices; governance determines whether the model is controlled.
RTX5 can support configurable routing and exposure workflows when they are part of an approved broker operating model. The labels alone do not establish execution quality, counterparty role or regulatory compliance, so evaluate the full price, order, risk, conflict, disclosure and reconciliation path.
Published by RTX5 Editorial TeamEditorial methodology
Trust and methodology
How this page was prepared
We want you to be able to identify who owns the page, inspect the evidence, understand how tools were used, and challenge anything that looks wrong or out of date.
Evidence you can inspect
2 primary references are listed on this page with context about what each one supports.
Assistance is disclosed
Automation and AI may help organize research, outline a page, or edit language. They are not treated as sources, are not presented as human experts, and do not remove the publisher's responsibility for the final page.
Corrections are welcome
If a statement is incomplete, unsupported, or outdated, send the exact URL, sentence, and supporting evidence through our contact route. Read the full editorial and corrections policy.
Direct answer
What is the difference between A-book and B-book?
In common retail-broker usage, A-book means that some or all client-market exposure is offset or routed to an external liquidity or execution counterparty. B-book means that the broker internalizes some or all exposure and manages the resulting risk rather than automatically offsetting each order externally. A hybrid broker applies defined rules and may hedge by instrument, account, size, aggregate exposure, market condition or risk threshold. Actual contracts and order handling matter more than the label.
Neither label guarantees good or bad execution. A controlled model defines who is legal counterparty, how client prices are formed, when and where orders execute, how conflicts are managed, which factors influence routing, who can change rules, what happens during provider or market disruption, and how requested prices, fills, rejects, markups, slippage, positions, hedges and cash are monitored and reconciled.
Who should use this decision guide?
Broker boards and risk owners
Decision makers approving the counterparty, exposure, conflict, capital, liquidity, provider, limit and escalation model.
Dealing and execution teams
Operators configuring price, markup, routing, hedging, aggregation, limits, provider health, interventions and incident response.
Compliance and assurance
Reviewers connecting client disclosures, conflicts, best-execution duties where applicable, changes, reports, complaints and audit evidence.
Evaluation areas
Workstreams to define before selecting technology
A reliable proposal maps each requirement to an owner, system, integration, acceptance test, dependency, operating procedure and written commercial inclusion.
Client price construction
Document source quotes, aggregation, validation, depth, markup, commission, spread, timestamp, stale rules, session behavior and differences by group or account.
Routing and hedge rules
Define external route, internalization, aggregation, thresholds, instrument, account, size, exposure, provider, market condition, availability and manual intervention rules.
Exposure and limit control
Monitor net and gross positions, concentration, correlated risks, provider and credit limits, P&L, stress, stale or closed markets, open orders and emergency hedging.
Conflict governance
Identify commercial incentives, counterparty role, price and execution discretion, sensitive classifications, staff permissions, compensation, monitoring, complaints and required disclosure.
Execution and hedge reconciliation
Link client orders and fills to route decisions, provider orders and executions, positions, fees, markups, corrections, cash and final exposure with owned exceptions.
A practical evaluation and delivery sequence
- 01
Approve the legal and risk model
Document counterparty roles, permitted internalization or external routing, capital and liquidity implications, conflicts, disclosures and oversight with qualified reviewers.
- 02
Write deterministic route rules
Use explicit inputs, precedence, limits, fallbacks, effective dates, owner, approval, test, audit and rollback rather than undocumented dealer discretion.
- 03
Test identical client scenarios
Run market, pending, partial, cancel, reject, gap, news, closed-market, provider-loss, large-size and threshold cases and trace the full decision.
- 04
Monitor segmented outcomes
Review effective spread, slippage, improvement, reject, fill, completion, latency, complaints, hedge cost and P&L by account, instrument, size, session and route.
- 05
Reconcile and review changes
Match client and hedge positions, fills, fees and cash daily; review rule changes and outliers independently and record corrective action.
Decision checklist
Evidence to request before committing
Ask for current, scope-matched evidence. A feature name, sales promise or search snippet cannot prove availability in the proposed deployment.
Routing transparency
The platform should record input values, matched rule, route, destination, time, actor or automation, fallback and final outcome for each material decision.
Controlled configuration
Review maker-checker, simulation, test environment, limits, versioning, effective time, rollback, emergency override, alert and audit for price and route changes.
Provider and credit resilience
Test unavailable prices, credit exhaustion, reject spikes, latency, sequence loss, stale quotes, provider isolation and safe fallback without hidden exposure.
Fair-outcome monitoring
Compare execution outcomes using disclosed segments and methods; investigate differential results rather than relying on one platform-wide average.
Responsibility and disclosure
Connect the legal counterparty, broker policy, technology rule, staff role, client disclosure, complaint route, report and approval.
Product and decision boundaries
- RTX5 pricing, CRM, bridge, hosting, market data, implementation and support scope must be confirmed in a signed proposal for the exact deployment.
- Technology delivery does not provide a broker licence, company registration, banking, payment-provider approval, liquidity approval or regulator authorization.
- Availability can depend on legal entity, jurisdiction, client type, product, provider, account, device, integration and third-party contract.
- This neutral technology explanation does not determine which routing model is permitted or appropriate for a particular broker, product, client or jurisdiction.
Primary references for due diligence
These external sources explain standards or market context. They do not certify RTX5 or replace product-specific testing.
Questions buyers and operators ask
Is A-book always better for clients?
The label cannot answer. Compare actual price formation, fees, fills, rejects, slippage, conflicts, counterparty, disclosures, controls and service under the relevant rules.
Is B-book illegal?
Legality depends on jurisdiction, permissions, product, counterparty model, conduct, disclosure and controls. Obtain qualified advice for the actual business.
Can RTX5 support a hybrid model?
Routing and exposure workflows can be scoped, but exact rules, providers, limits, approvals, reports, legal basis and operating responsibilities must be documented and tested.
Continue the evaluation
Share the legal counterparty model, instruments, client groups, price sources, providers, exposure limits, routing and hedge rules, regions and reporting duties. RTX5 can be evaluated against a controlled and traceable routing design.