NSCC Positions & Values Record Layouts

The National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) supplies a family of record types thatcommunicate detailed position and valuation information for securities cleared through itssystem. The three most common record families are:

• PVF Position Value File
• PNF Position Notification File
• PFF Position Futures File

Each file follows a fixedwidth ASCII layout, enabling deterministic parsing by downstreamapplications. The tables below summarise the layout of each record type, describe the purposeof each field, and highlight any special processing rules.

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1. PVF Position Value File

The PVF provides a snapshot of the market value of each security held in the NSCCaccount at a specific valuation date. It is typically generated nightly and used forriskbased margin calculations, reporting, and reconciliation.

PVF Record Layout

Position	Length	Data Type	Field Name	Description
1	1	Char	Record Type	Always V for PVF.
2	10	Alphanum	Account Number	NSCC assigned clearing account.
12	6	Numeric	Valuation Date	YYYYMM format.
18	4	Alphanum	Security Type	Equity, ETF, ADR, etc.
22	12	Alphanum	Security Identifier	CUSIP (or ISIN when applicable).
34	15	Numeric	Quantity	Signed, 5 implied decimal places.
49	15	Numeric	Market Value	Signed, 2 implied decimal places.
64	5	Alphanum	Currency Code	ISO4217 (e.g., USD).
69	8	Numeric	Price	8digit, 4 implied decimals.
77	2	Alphanum	Price Flag	A if adjusted, blank otherwise.
79	20	Alphanum	Optional Trailer	Reserved for future use.

Key processing points

• Quantities are expressed in shares with an implied divisor of 10; a value of 1234567 represents 12.34567 shares.
• Negative quantities indicate short positions.
• The Market Value is calculated as Quantity Price (after handling the implied decimal places).
• If the Price Flag contains A, the price has been adjusted for corporate actions that were not reflected in the price feed.

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2. PNF Position Notification File

PNF files are generated after each trade settlement or any activity that changes theposition of a security. They are used for realtime position monitoring and to triggermargin calls when necessary.

PNF Record Layout

Pos	Len	Type	Name	Description
1	1	Char	Record Type	Always N.
2	10	Alphanum	Account Number	Same as PVF.
12	6	Numeric	Effective Date	YYYYMM.
18	4	Alphanum	Security Type	Same coding as PVF.
22	12	Alphanum	Security Identifier	CUSIP/ISIN.
34	15	Numeric	Delta Quantity	Signed, 5 implied decimals.
49	12	Numeric	Transaction Price	8 digits + 4 decimal places.
61	2	Alphanum	Transaction Code	B = Buy, S = Sell, D = Dividend, etc.
63	8	Alphanum	Trade Identifier	NSCC assigned unique ID.
71	1	Char	Settlement Flag	Y = settled, N = pending.
72	20	Alphanum	Reserved	Blank, future expansion.

Processing notes

• The Delta Quantity is added to the prior days quantity to obtain the new position.
• When Settlement Flag = N, the record represents a pending trade; downstream systems should hold the delta until settlement.
• Corporate actions (e.g., splits) are supplied as a separate Adjustment record type with Transaction Code A.

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3. PFF Position Futures File

PFF records contain the position and valuation detail for futures contracts cleared by NSCC.Although similar in concept to PVF, futures have additional fields for contract month,expiration, and margin requirements.

PFF Record Layout

Pos	Len	Type	Name	Description
1	1	Char	Record Type	Always F.
2	10	Alphanum	Account Number	Clearing account.
12	6	Numeric	Valuation Date	YYYYMM.
18	3	Alphanum	Future Symbol	Exchange symbol (e.g., ES).
21	1	Alphanum	Month Code	Futures month (F=Jan, G=Feb Z=Dec).
22	2	Numeric	Year	Last two digits of contract year.
24	15	Numeric	Quantity	Signed, 0 implied decimals (contracts).
39	10	Numeric	Last Trade Price	4 implied decimal places.
49	10	Numeric	Settlement Price	Same scaling as Last Trade Price.
59	12	Numeric	Initial Margin	2 implied decimals, currency in USD.
71	12	Numeric	Maintenance Margin	2 implied decimals.
83	1	Char	Position Flag	L = Long, S = Short.
84	20	Alphanum	Reserved	Future use.

Special considerations

• Futures are quoted in points; the price fields therefore carry four decimal places (e.g., 4256.75 = 4256.7500 points).
• Margins are expressed in USD; a value of 1500000 represents $15,000.00.
• The Position Flag determines sign handling: L is positive, S is negative.
• When the Year is less than the current year, the contract is expired and should be ignored for active margin calculations.

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4. Common Validation Rules

Although each file type has its own layout, the following validation steps are typicallyapplied regardless of record family:

1. Record Length: Every line must be exactly 100 characters (including trailing blanks). Shorter lines indicate corruption.
2. Alphanumeric Checks: Fields defined as Alphanum must contain only AZ, 09, or blanks.
3. Numeric Integrity: Numeric fields must be rightjustified, zerofilled, and contain only digits.
4. Implied Decimal Handling: Convert to a floatingpoint value by dividing by the proper power of ten before any arithmetic.
5. CrossFile Consistency: The sum of all Delta Quantity values in a PNF for a given account/date must equal the change in Quantity shown in the PVF for the same date.
6. Reference Data Validation: Security Identifier must be present in the master security table; monthcode/year combos must correspond to a live futures contract.

Implementations often use a twopass approach: first a syntax pass to reject malformed records,followed by a businesslogic pass that checks relationships between records and external reference data.

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5. Sample Parsing Routine (PseudoCode)

function parsePVF(line):    assert line.length == 100    rec = {}    rec.type          = line[0]    rec.account       = line[1:11].trim()    rec.valDate       = line[11:17]    rec.secType       = line[17:21].trim()    rec.cusip         = line[21:33].trim()    rec.quantity      = toDecimal(line[33:48], 5)    rec.marketValue   = toDecimal(line[48:63], 2)    rec.currency      = line[63:68].trim()    rec.price         = toDecimal(line[68:76], 4)    rec.priceFlag     = line[76:78].trim()    return rec

The same pattern can be repeated for PNF and PFF, changing field offsets and scaling factors as defined in the tables above.

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6. Typical Use Cases

• Margin Calculations Combine PVF market values with PFF margin fields to determine daily exposure.
• Regulatory Reporting Generate endofday position reports for the SEC or the OCC using the consolidated snapshot from PVF.
• RealTime Risk Monitoring Consume PNF deltas in a streaming pipeline to keep a live position book.
• Corporate Action Processing Detect adjustment records (Transaction Code A) and apply split or merger ratios to PVF quantities.

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7. Conclusion

The NSCC record families PVF, PNF, and PFF provide a comprehensive, fixedwidth view ofpositions, daily valuations, and futures exposure for clearing participants. Understandingthe exact column offsets, data types, and implied decimal conventions is essential forbuilding reliable ingestion pipelines. By applying the validation rules and crossfileconsistency checks outlined above, firms can confidently use these files for margincalculations, regulatory reporting, and realtime risk management.