Real-Time Trade Reporting

Many of the exchanges where financial securities get traded use market makers (the NYSE, for example). These entities provide a pivot point where trading happens, facilitating exchanges and maintaining liquidity.

These market makers are in charge of reporting trades as they happen. And they can't like...report them when they get around to it, or report them after they have their afternoon fresca. They have to do it right away. Like, in real time. Hence the term: "real-time trade reporting."