What Is a ‘Dark Pool’ and How Is It Used by Institutions to Avoid Slippage?

A dark pool is a private forum or exchange for trading securities or crypto assets that is not accessible to the general public. It allows institutional investors to place large orders without publicly revealing their intentions, thus preventing front-running and minimizing market impact.

By matching orders internally away from the public order book, they can achieve better execution prices and significantly reduce slippage.