What is a Process Date

When a broker sends out a transaction notice it will usually show the process date. The process date is the day the trade went through on the broker's computer. This is usually always the same date as the trade date, but there are a couple of exceptions. For instance in the case of an IPO - since the IPO reservation can be made in advance and even shortly after the IPO has gone off, your broker may not know the number of shares of stock his firm is getting so in return he doesn't know how many shares each buyer will get. In this case a trade date could be a couple of days before the process date. Another example would be if your broker made a mistake and they correct it with an "as of" date. Here your confirmation may show June 3rd as the process date of the trade "as of" the trade date of June 1st.