While FIX has a dominant large market share, exchanges also offer native protocols. The Nasdaq offers a TotalView ITCH direct data-feed protocol that allows subscribers to track individual orders for equity instruments from placement to execution or cancellation.

As a result, it allows for the reconstruction of the order book that keeps track of the list of active-limit buy and sell orders for a specific security or financial instrument. The order book reveals the market depth throughout the day by listing the number of shares being bid or offered at each price point. It may also identify the market participant responsible for specific buy and sell orders unless it is placed anonymously. Market depth is a key indicator of liquidity and the potential price impact of sizable market orders. 

In addition to matching market and limit orders, the Nasdaq also operates auctions or crosses that execute a large number of trades at market opening and closing. Crosses are becoming more important as passive investing continues to grow and traders look for opportunities to execute larger blocks of stock. TotalView also disseminates the Net Order Imbalance Indicator (NOII) for the Nasdaq opening and closing crosses and Nasdaq IPO/Halt cross.