Glossary · Market Structure
Dark Pool
Also: dark pools, institutional dark pool
Published
Dark Pool — A dark pool is a trading venue that matches orders without displaying them to participants before execution, so that institutions can trade blocks without revealing size or intent to the wider market. Digital asset dark pools bring the model from equities to crypto, matching participants with each other rather than against a single dealer.
How Matching Works Without Display
Participants submit orders to the pool, which holds them without publishing a book. When a buy and a sell can be matched under the pool's rules, often at a price referenced to lit markets such as the midpoint, the trade executes and is reported afterward. Nobody sees the resting interest before the match, which removes the signaling cost that makes lit venues expensive for blocks.
Dark Pool, OTC Desk, or Lit Venue
An OTC desk is a single counterparty that prices the block and takes it onto its own book. A dark pool is multilateral: the other side is another participant, and there is no fill unless one exists. A lit venue displays everything and fills immediately but at the cost of impact. Institutions use dark pools for blocks where natural contra interest is likely and price improvement at the midpoint is worth the uncertainty of a fill; they use a desk when certainty of execution matters more.
In Digital Assets
Institutional dark pools for digital assets launched with backing from custody and liquidity providers, with settlement designed so that assets stay in custody until matched. Stillman Digital was a partner in the launch of GoDark, an institutional dark pool for digital assets backed by Copper and GSR, in Nov 2025.
Sources
- Stillman Digital Newsroom — Stillman Digital