Dark pools are privately operated electronic trading platforms where securities are traded without pre-trade order transparency. Orders are hidden from the public until after execution.
Large institutional investors use dark pools because placing huge orders on public exchanges would move prices against them. Dark pools prevent this market impact.
Benefits: large trades don't suddenly move market prices, trades often execute at better prices (between bid and ask), and trading strategies remain confidential.
However, dark pools reduce market transparency and small investors can't see large orders, which raises fairness concerns.
Bangladesh doesn't have dark pools. The country's stock exchanges (DSE, CSE) are fully transparent with real-time order visibility.