EncodedText (FIX tag 355)

dataFIX 4.4FIX 4.2

EncodedText (tag 355) is a data field defined in FIX 4.4 and FIX 4.2. It appears in 71 message types, always optionally. It is length-prefixed — tag 354 carries the byte count, so the value may contain the SOH separator without breaking the message.

At a glance

Tag: 355
Name: EncodedText
Datatype: data
Dialects: FIX 4.4 and FIX 4.2
Messages: 71
Length field: tag 354

What the specification says

FIX 4.4

Encoded (non-ASCII characters) representation of the Text (58) field in the encoded format specified via the MessageEncoding (347) field. If used, the ASCII (English) representation should also be specified in the Text field.

FIX 4.2

Encoded (non-ASCII characters) representation of the Text field in the encoded format specified via the MessageEncoding field. If used, the ASCII (English) representation should also be specified in the Text field.

Descriptions are quoted from the FIX Orchestra sources under the Apache 2.0 licence.

A real message using tag 355

NewOrderSingle · FIX 4.4

Tag	Field	Wire value	Meaning
8	BeginString	FIX.4.4
9	BodyLength	129
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
54	Side	1	Buy
60	TransactTime	20240101-12:00:00.000
40	OrdType	1	Market
354	EncodedTextLen	7
355	EncodedText	EXAMPLE
10	CheckSum	241

Edit and decode it yourself

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.

Open in the full decoder →

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.

Where tag 355 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
Advertisement	7	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
AllocationInstruction	J	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
AllocationInstructionAck	P	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
AllocationReport	AS	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
AllocationReportAck	AT	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
AssignmentReport	AW	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
BidRequest	k	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
BidResponse	l	Conditional	Optional	inside the BidCompRspGrp component
BusinessMessageReject	j	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
CollateralAssignment	AY	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
CollateralInquiry	BB	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
CollateralInquiryAck	BG	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
CollateralReport	BA	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
CollateralRequest	AX	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
CollateralResponse	AZ	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
Confirmation	AK	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
ConfirmationAck	AU	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
ConfirmationRequest	BH	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
CrossOrderCancelReplaceRequest	t	Conditional	—	inside the SideCrossOrdModGrp component
CrossOrderCancelRequest	u	Conditional	—	inside the SideCrossOrdCxlGrp component
DerivativeSecurityList	AA	Conditional	—	inside the RelSymDerivSecGrp component
DerivativeSecurityListRequest	z	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
DontKnowTrade	Q	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
Email	C	Conditional	Optional	inside the LinesOfTextGrp component
ExecutionReport	8	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
IOI	6	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
ListCancelRequest	K	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
ListExecute	L	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
ListStatus	N	Conditional	Optional	inside the OrdListStatGrp component
ListStatusRequest	M	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
ListStrikePrice	m	Optional	Optional	inside the UndInstrmtStrkPxGrp component
Logout	5	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
MarketDataIncrementalRefresh	X	Conditional	Optional	inside the MDIncGrp component
MarketDataRequestReject	Y	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
MarketDataSnapshotFullRefresh	W	Conditional	Optional	inside the MDFullGrp component
MassQuoteAcknowledgement	b	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
MultilegOrderCancelReplace	AC	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
NewOrderCross	s	Conditional	—	inside the SideCrossOrdModGrp component
NewOrderList	E	Conditional	Optional	inside the ListOrdGrp component
NewOrderMultileg	AB	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
NewOrderSingle	D	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
News	B	Conditional	Optional	inside the LinesOfTextGrp component
OrderCancelReject	9	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
OrderCancelReplaceRequest	G	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
OrderCancelRequest	F	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
OrderMassCancelReport	r	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
OrderMassCancelRequest	q	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
PositionMaintenanceReport	AM	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
PositionMaintenanceRequest	AL	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
PositionReport	AP	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
Quote	S	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
QuoteRequest	R	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
QuoteRequestReject	AG	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
QuoteResponse	AJ	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
QuoteStatusReport	AI	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
Reject	3	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
RequestForPositions	AN	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
RequestForPositionsAck	AO	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
SecurityDefinition	d	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
SecurityDefinitionRequest	c	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body
SecurityList	y	Conditional	—	inside the SecListGrp component
SecurityListRequest	x	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
SecurityStatus	f	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
SecurityTypeRequest	v	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
SecurityTypes	w	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
SettlementInstructions	T	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
TradeCaptureReport	AE	Conditional	—	inside the TrdCapRptSideGrp component
TradeCaptureReportAck	AR	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
TradeCaptureReportRequest	AD	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
TradeCaptureReportRequestAck	AQ	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
TradingSessionStatus	h	Conditional	Optional	directly on the message body

Wire format

Raw bytes, length-prefixed by a partner field. The value may legally contain the SOH separator, which is why the length matters. @boarteam/fix reads the partner length field first and takes exactly that many bytes, so an embedded separator does not truncate the value.

Read tag 355 in TypeScript

decode.tsts

import { createFixEngine } from "@boarteam/fix";import { dictionary } from "@boarteam/fix-dict-fix44";const fix = createFixEngine(dictionary);const { message, issues } = fix.parse(raw);// Length-prefixed: tag 354 carries the byte count, so the// value may contain the SOH separator without breaking the message.const length = message.fields[354]?.value;const encodedText = message.fields[355]?.raw;

Other data 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

Try the decoder Source on GitHub