FR 2004C: weekly primary-dealer positions (restricted access)

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 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.