Cross Trade

A trade in which a broker offsets buy and sell orders without recording the orders on the exchange where the trade is taking place. Suppose a broker receives one order to buy 1,000 shares at $45 and another to sell 1,000 shares at $45. If he simply matches these two orders without publicizing them on an exchange to see if better prices are available, he conducts a cross trade. This could prevent investors from taking advantage of a better price. A cross trade may be considered a form of price manipulation and, as such, is prohibited.