---
title: "FR 2004C: weekly primary-dealer positions (restricted access)"
description: >-
  FR 2004C is the dealer-level detail behind the Federal Reserve Bank of New
  York's weekly primary-dealer statistics: positions, transactions, and
  financing in government and other securities. Only aggregates are published;
  the dealer-level data is confidential. This page documents what it is and the
  gotchas, but it was not exercised here.
sidebar:
  label: FR 2004C
tags: [dealers, repo, treasuries, fixed-income, federal-reserve, data:fr2004c]
---

:::caution[Confidential supervisory data: not exercised here]
**FR 2004C dealer-level data is confidential** and collected by the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York. The Fed publishes the **aggregate** primary-dealer
statistics, but the **dealer-level** records carry **no provenance badge**:
there is no access path we can run here. Researchers reach the dealer-level
data only through a Federal Reserve affiliation or an approved restricted-data
arrangement, inside a secure environment, with output subject to disclosure
review. The page documents what the collection is and the gotchas; treat it as
unverified. This is the honest grade under the institute's Verified discipline.
:::

**FR 2004C** is the weekly collection of **primary government securities dealer**
positions, transactions, settlements, and financing that the Federal Reserve
Bank of New York uses to produce its published primary-dealer statistics. The
dealer-level micro-records (and related FR 2004 special-purpose surveys) cover
all primary dealers at weekly frequency, with positions and financing broken out
by asset class. A paper we distill uses it:
[Copeland & Martin](/wiki/papers/jf/2025/copeland-repo-financial-crisis-2025/)
use FR 2004C as the primary source for repo and reverse-repo outstanding by
asset class across all primary dealers at weekly frequency, 2004 to 2013.

- **Cost:** not for sale at the dealer level. Aggregates are published free.
- **Collector:** Federal Reserve Bank of New York (the FR 2004 dealer report
  series).
- **Coverage:** the primary-dealer population, weekly; positions, transactions,
  and financing by asset class. The set of primary dealers changes over time.

## Access (restricted)

- **Aggregates are public; the dealer-level micro-data is not.** The New York
  Fed posts weekly aggregate primary-dealer statistics on its website; the
  underlying dealer-level FR 2004 records are confidential and are not posted.
- **Through a Federal Reserve affiliation or approved program.** Dealer-level
  access is limited to researchers at the Federal Reserve System or others
  granted entry to the restricted data, worked inside a secure environment with
  output subject to disclosure review.
- The published **form and instructions** are public, so the field definitions
  can be read even though the dealer-level data cannot be pulled.

## Gotchas (the ones that bite pipelines)

These are the failure modes to expect; they are documented, not verified here.

- **Primary dealers are not the whole market.** The report covers only the
  primary-dealer population, a selected set of large dealers; positions and
  financing here are not the entire dealer or repo market. Do not generalize to
  non-primary dealers.
- **The dealer set changes over time.** Primary dealers are added and removed,
  and firms merge or exit (notably around 2008), breaking the panel for
  structural reasons. Track the dealer roster for your window.
- **Net versus gross positions.** Reported positions can be net of offsetting
  long and short exposures within an asset class; a net figure understates gross
  market footprint. Confirm the reporting basis before interpreting levels.
- **Asset-class definitions and form revisions.** The FR 2004 forms have been
  revised over the years, and asset-class buckets can change; a category can
  shift meaning between vintages. Read the instructions for your sample period.
- **Aggregates can be revised.** The published weekly aggregates are subject to
  revision as dealers resubmit; a real-time series differs from the final one.
  Pin the vintage if timing matters.
- **Output is disclosure-reviewed and cannot be redistributed.** Dealer-level
  results leave the secure environment only after review, and the micro-data
  itself cannot be shared.

## Citation

Cite the collection and collector, e.g.: *FR 2004C dealer-level data (Federal
Reserve Bank of New York), confidential; accessed under restricted-data
arrangement, YYYY-MM-DD.* For the public series, cite the New York Fed primary
dealer statistics. State the asset class, the sample window, and the dealer
population for your period.