HandlInst (FIX tag 21)
HandlInst (tag 21) is a char field defined in FIX 4.4 and FIX 4.2. It appears in 8 message types, always optionally. It is an enumerated field with 3 defined values.
At a glance
- Tag
- 21
- Name
- HandlInst
- Datatype
- char
- Dialects
- FIX 4.4 and FIX 4.2
- Messages
- 8
- Valid values
- 3
What the specification says
Instructions for order handling on Broker trading floor
Descriptions are quoted from the FIX Orchestra sources under the Apache 2.0 licence.
A real message using tag 21
| Tag | Field | Wire value | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | BeginString | FIX.4.4 | |
| 9 | BodyLength | 116 | |
| 35 | MsgType | D | Order – Single |
| 49 | SenderCompID | BOARTEAM | |
| 56 | TargetCompID | COUNTERPARTY | |
| 34 | MsgSeqNum | 2 | |
| 52 | SendingTime | 20240101-12:00:00.000 | |
| 11 | ClOrdID | ORD-10042 | |
| 21 | HandlInst | 1 | Automated execution order, private, no Broker intervention |
| 54 | Side | 1 | Buy |
| 60 | TransactTime | 20240101-12:00:00.000 | |
| 40 | OrdType | 1 | Market |
| 10 | CheckSum | 199 |
Shown with | separators for readability. On the wire FIX uses SOH (0x01), an invisible control byte — and because BodyLength and CheckSum are computed over the actual bytes, the two forms have different checksums. Both are valid and both decode here.
Generated from the FIX 4.4 dictionary and verified at build time: it parses and validates with no issues. Open the decoder to try your own message.
Valid values
A value outside this list is not a parse error — the message still decodes — but validate() reports it as validate/value-not-in-enum.
| Value | Meaning | Symbolic name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Automated execution order, private, no Broker intervention | AUTOMATED_EXECUTION_ORDER_PRIVATE_NO_BROKER_INTERVENTION / AutomatedExecutionNoIntervention |
| 2 | Automated execution order, public, Broker intervention OK | AUTOMATED_EXECUTION_ORDER_PUBLIC_BROKER_INTERVENTION_OK / AutomatedExecutionInterventionOK |
| 3 | Manual order, best execution | MANUAL_ORDER_BEST_EXECUTION / ManualOrder |
Where tag 21 appears
Requiredness is a property of the message, not of the field: the same tag can be optional in one message and conditionally required in another.
| Message | MsgType | FIX 4.4 | FIX 4.2 | Where in the message |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CrossOrderCancelReplaceRequest | t | Optional | — | directly on the message body |
| ExecutionReport | 8 | Optional | Optional | directly on the message body |
| MultilegOrderCancelReplace | AC | Optional | — | directly on the message body |
| NewOrderCross | s | Optional | — | directly on the message body |
| NewOrderList | E | Optional | Optional | inside the ListOrdGrp component |
| NewOrderMultileg | AB | Optional | — | directly on the message body |
| NewOrderSingle | D | Optional | Required | directly on the message body |
| OrderCancelReplaceRequest | G | Optional | Required | directly on the message body |
Wire format
A single character. Most char fields are enumerated, so the value is one of a fixed set rather than arbitrary text. @boarteam/fix keeps the value as a string and, for enumerated fields, reports validate/value-not-in-enum when it is not a defined value.
Read tag 21 in TypeScript
import { createFixEngine } from "@boarteam/fix";import { dictionary } from "@boarteam/fix-dict-fix44";const fix = createFixEngine(dictionary);const { message, issues } = fix.parse(raw);const handlInst = message.fields[21]?.raw;// e.g. "1" — Automated execution order, private, no Broker intervention// The dictionary also carries the labels:const label = fix.dictionary .fieldByTag(21) ?.enumValues?.find((e) => e.value === handlInst) ?.description;Other char fields
Decode this in your own code
The same engine that produced the decoded example above is an Apache-2.0 npm package with zero runtime dependencies. It runs in Node and in the browser, and parse() returns problems as data instead of throwing.
npm i @boarteam/fix @boarteam/fix-dict-fix44