Bulk Deals — The 0.5% Disclosure and What It Signals
What makes a trade a 'bulk deal', why the exchange names the counterparty, and how to read the data without overreacting to it.
A bulk deal is one of the few windows retail traders get into who is actually transacting size in a stock — because the exchange publishes the buyer or seller by name. That transparency is valuable, but it's also routinely misread, because a single day's bulk deal says far less than it appears to.
This chapter covers the exact definition, what the exchange discloses and when, and how to read bulk-deal data as one input rather than a signal to chase.
What counts as a bulk deal
A trade is a bulk deal when a single client's transactions in a stock on a given day — on either the buy or the sell side — add up to 0.5% or more of the company's number of equity shares. It's measured per client, per stock, per day, and it happens in the normal market: ordinary on-screen orders, possibly several through the day, that cumulatively cross the threshold.
Because it executes in the open market, a bulk deal moves the price like any other order flow. This is the key contrast with a block deal (next chapter), which is negotiated off the regular order book in a dedicated window.
What the exchange discloses, and when
The broker flags qualifying trades, and the exchange publishes the day's bulk deals after market hours the same day: the stock, the client name, whether it was a buy or sell, the quantity, and the weighted-average price.
That named-counterparty disclosure is the whole appeal. You can see that a specific fund, HNI or corporate bought or sold size — information you almost never get in real time for normal flow.
How to read it without overreacting
A buy and a sell net to nothing. Bulk-deal prints often show a large buyer and a large seller in the same name — one fund exiting to another entering. That's a transfer of ownership, not net demand; reading only the buy side is the most common error.
It's same-day, after the move. By the time you see the print, the price impact has happened. Bulk deals are context, not a timing signal.
Who matters more than how much. A long-term institution accumulating is a different signal from an exiting pre-IPO investor or a treasury rebalancing. The name is the information; pair it with why they might be transacting.
Common misreads
- Treating a bulk buy as net demand when there's an offsetting bulk sell the same day — it's a transfer.
- Chasing the stock on the print: the move already happened; disclosure is same-day, after the fact.
- Ignoring who the counterparty is — a sticky institution and an exiting investor are opposite signals at the same size.
Key takeaways
- Bulk deal = a single client's same-day buy or sell in a stock >= 0.5% of its equity shares.
- Executed in the normal market (on-screen), so it moves the price like any order flow.
- Disclosed same day after close: name, buy/sell, quantity, weighted-average price.
- A bulk buy and bulk sell in the same name net out — it's a transfer, not net demand.
- It's after-the-fact context (who transacted), not a real-time timing signal.
Bulk deals — reading the print
How is the 0.5% bulk-deal threshold actually measured?
It's 0.5% or more of the company's total number of equity shares, transacted by a single client in one stock on one day, counted separately on the buy and sell sides. Several on-screen trades by the same client through the day are aggregated, so a position built in pieces can still cross the threshold and be disclosed.
Why do I often see a big buyer AND a big seller in the same bulk deal?
Because a bulk deal frequently records both sides of a large ownership transfer — one investor exiting to another entering. The two net to roughly zero new demand. Reading only the buy side (or only the sell side) is the single most common bulk-deal misread; always check for the offsetting print.
Can I trade off bulk-deal data?
As context, not as a timing signal. The data is published after the close, by which point the price impact is already in. Its value is in telling you who is transacting size and in what direction — useful for building a thesis, not for chasing the day's move.
What's the difference between a bulk deal and a block deal?
A bulk deal happens in the normal market (on-screen orders, possibly several through the day) and is defined by the 0.5% threshold. A block deal is a single large trade negotiated off the regular order book in a dedicated window, with a much higher minimum value. Different mechanism, different disclosure — covered in the next chapter.
Where can I see today's bulk deals?
The exchanges publish them after market hours, and Strota's deals view surfaces them alongside block deals and insider/PIT filings so you can read named institutional and insider activity in one place rather than across separate exchange files.