90-Minute Reporting Delay
Volume Spread Analysis glossary · Effort vs Result & Spread/Close Analysis
Definition
A rule on the London Stock Exchange that allows market-makers to delay reporting any trade more than three times the normal average size for up to ninety minutes. The stated justification is that market-makers need an edge to compensate for their exposure; the practical consequence for VSA is that volume data on any single bar can be corrupted because trades from the previous bar may be reported during the current bar, affecting two consecutive bars. The deeper insight: professionals hide the volume, not the price—because volume gives away their intent.
90-Minute Reporting Delay in plain English
Imagine a poker player who has just made a huge bet, but the rules let him keep his cards face-down for an extra ninety minutes before anyone sees them. That's basically what this London Stock Exchange rule does: when a market-maker (a big professional who's always ready to buy or sell) trades a chunk more than three times the normal size, they're allowed to wait up to 90 minutes before publicly reporting it. The point for you as a chart reader is that this late reporting smears the true volume across bars — a giant trade that really happened during one bar might not show up until the next one, quietly corrupting the volume on two bars in a row. The lesson underneath it all: the pros are happy to let you see the price, but they fight to hide the volume, because volume is what reveals what they're actually up to.
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