Who clears, who carries, and who holds the assets, three different relationships that are often confused for one. Read against what independents pay away to third parties, this is the clearest measure of structural dependency in the channel.
Asked of every dealer. Suppressed below two firms per carrier.
Carrying dealer versus custodian
A carrying broker is a Dealer Member that holds introduced client accounts on its own books and margins them. A custodian holds the assets. They are frequently different firms, which is why the two are asked separately.
Introducing broker type IDPC Rule 2400
Type 1 through 4 describes how much of the client relationship and balance sheet sits with the introducer rather than the carrier. It determines minimum capital and bond coverage.
Never sum assets or accounts across an introducer and its carrier. Form 1 requires both sides to count introduced accounts when calculating client net equity, so a channel total built that way double-counts by design.
Carrier market share should be computed from the introducer side, the assets and tickets of firms naming each carrier, rather than from carriers' own submissions.