Side (FIX tag 54)

charFIX 4.4FIX 4.2

Side (tag 54) is a char field defined in FIX 4.4 and FIX 4.2. It appears in 36 message types and is required in 17 of them. It is an enumerated field with 16 defined values.

At a glance

Tag: 54
Name: Side
Datatype: char
Dialects: FIX 4.4 and FIX 4.2
Messages: 36
Valid values: 16

What the specification says

Side of order

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

A real message using tag 54

Quote · FIX 4.4

Tag	Field	Wire value	Meaning
8	BeginString	FIX.4.4
9	BodyLength	80
35	MsgType	S	Quote
49	SenderCompID	BOARTEAM
56	TargetCompID	COUNTERPARTY
34	MsgSeqNum	2
52	SendingTime	20240101-12:00:00.000
117	QuoteID	EXAMPLE
54	Side	1	Buy
10	CheckSum	139

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.

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	Dialects
1	Buy	BUY / Buy	FIX 4.4, FIX 4.2
2	Sell	SELL / Sell	FIX 4.4, FIX 4.2
3	Buy minus	BUY_MINUS / BuyMinus	FIX 4.4, FIX 4.2
4	Sell plus	SELL_PLUS / SellPlus	FIX 4.4, FIX 4.2
5	Sell short	SELL_SHORT / SellShort	FIX 4.4, FIX 4.2
6	Sell short exempt	SELL_SHORT_EXEMPT / SellShortExempt	FIX 4.4, FIX 4.2
7	Undisclosed (valid for IOI and List Order messages only)	UNDISCLOSED / Undisclosed	FIX 4.4, FIX 4.2
8	Cross (orders where counterparty is an exchange, valid for all messages except IOIs)	CROSS / Cross	FIX 4.4, FIX 4.2
9	Cross short	CROSS_SHORT / CrossShort	FIX 4.4, FIX 4.2
A	Cross short exempt	CROSS_SHORT_EXEMPT	FIX 4.4
B	"As Defined" (for use with multileg instruments)	AS_DEFINED	FIX 4.4
C	"Opposite" (for use with multileg instruments)	OPPOSITE	FIX 4.4
D	Subscribe (e.g. CIV)	SUBSCRIBE	FIX 4.4
E	Redeem (e.g. CIV)	REDEEM	FIX 4.4
F	Lend (FINANCING - identifies direction of collateral)	LEND	FIX 4.4
G	Borrow (FINANCING - identifies direction of collateral)	BORROW	FIX 4.4

Where tag 54 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
AllocationInstruction	J	Required	Required	directly on the message body
AllocationReport	AS	Required	—	directly on the message body
BidRequest	k	Optional	Optional	inside the BidCompReqGrp component
BidResponse	l	Optional	Optional	inside the BidCompRspGrp component
CollateralAssignment	AY	Optional	—	directly on the message body
CollateralInquiry	BB	Optional	—	directly on the message body
CollateralReport	BA	Optional	—	directly on the message body
CollateralRequest	AX	Optional	—	directly on the message body
CollateralResponse	AZ	Optional	—	directly on the message body
Confirmation	AK	Required	—	directly on the message body
CrossOrderCancelReplaceRequest	t	Required	—	inside the SideCrossOrdModGrp component
CrossOrderCancelRequest	u	Required	—	inside the SideCrossOrdCxlGrp component
DontKnowTrade	Q	Required	Required	directly on the message body
ExecutionReport	8	Required	Required	directly on the message body
IOI	6	Required	Required	directly on the message body
ListStrikePrice	m	Optional	Optional	inside the UndInstrmtStrkPxGrp component
MultilegOrderCancelReplace	AC	Required	—	directly on the message body
NewOrderCross	s	Required	—	inside the SideCrossOrdModGrp component
NewOrderList	E	Required	Required	inside the ListOrdGrp component
NewOrderMultileg	AB	Required	—	directly on the message body
NewOrderSingle	D	Required	Required	directly on the message body
OrderCancelReplaceRequest	G	Required	Required	directly on the message body
OrderCancelRequest	F	Required	Required	directly on the message body
OrderMassCancelReport	r	Optional	—	directly on the message body
OrderMassCancelRequest	q	Optional	—	directly on the message body
OrderMassStatusRequest	AF	Optional	—	directly on the message body
OrderStatusRequest	H	Required	Required	directly on the message body
Quote	S	Conditional	—	directly on the message body
QuoteRequest	R	Optional	Optional	inside the QuotReqGrp component
QuoteRequestReject	AG	Optional	—	inside the QuotReqRjctGrp component
QuoteResponse	AJ	Optional	—	directly on the message body
QuoteStatusReport	AI	Optional	—	directly on the message body
QuoteStatusRequest	a	—	Optional	directly on the message body
SecurityDefinition	d	—	Optional	directly on the message body
SecurityDefinitionRequest	c	—	Optional	directly on the message body
SettlementInstructionRequest	AV	Optional	—	directly on the message body
SettlementInstructions	T	Optional	Optional	inside the SettlInstGrp component
TradeCaptureReport	AE	Required	—	inside the TrdCapRptSideGrp component
TradeCaptureReportRequest	AD	Optional	—	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 54 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);const side = message.fields[54]?.raw;// e.g. "1" — Buy// The dictionary also carries the labels:const label = fix.dictionary  .fieldByTag(54)  ?.enumValues?.find((e) => e.value === side)  ?.description;

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