Definition
Bulk Deal
A bulk deal is a trade, or set of trades by a client, in a single stock that exceeds a threshold percentage of the stock's total traded shares in a day, requiring disclosure to the exchange.
Indian exchanges define a bulk deal as a transaction exceeding a set percentage (commonly 0.5%) of a company's listed shares by a single client in a day, executed in the normal market. Brokers must report bulk deals to the exchange, which discloses them publicly the same day for transparency.
Unlike a block deal, which uses a special window, a bulk deal happens in the regular market and may be aggregated across multiple trades. Bulk- and block-deal disclosures are watched by analysts and investors as signals of large-investor activity in a stock.
Related terms
- Market ImpactMarket impact is the adverse price movement caused by the act of trading itself, where a large buy pushes the price up and a large sell pushes it down as the order consumes available liquidity.
- Disclosed Quantity (Iceberg Order)Disclosed quantity, the basis of an iceberg order, shows only a portion of a large order to the market at a time, hiding the full size to reduce market impact and information leakage.
- Crossing / Negotiated DealA crossing or negotiated deal is a large transaction arranged off the continuous order book and reported to the exchange, used to move big blocks without disrupting the public market.
- Block DealA block deal is a large, single transaction of shares executed in a dedicated exchange window at a negotiated price within a permitted band, designed for institutions to trade size efficiently.
Plain-English explainer from The Dispatch Investors Encyclopedia. General information, not financial advice.