How long trade recordings must be kept
A recorded trading call has a legal shelf life that depends on where the firm is regulated and what it trades. The periods range from one year to seven.
Once a call has been recorded, the next question is how long it must survive. The answer varies more than the recording duty itself, and the U.S. rules in particular set different periods for audio and for written records made by the same firm about the same trade.
| Regime | What it covers | Minimum retention |
|---|---|---|
| MiFID II, Art. 16(7) | EU investment firms’ trading and client order calls | 5 years, up to 7 on request |
| CFTC Reg. 1.31(b)(2) | Oral communications futures firms must keep | 1 year |
| CFTC Reg. 1.31(b)(3) | Most other CFTC regulatory records | 5 years |
| SEC Rule 17a-4(b)(4) | Broker-dealer business communications | 3 years, first 2 easily accessible |
| FINRA Rule 3170 | Tapes made by a taping firm | 3 years, first 2 easily accessible |
Europe: five years, sometimes seven
Article 16(7) of MiFID II requires the records to be kept for five years and, where the competent authority asks, for up to seven. Article 76 of Delegated Regulation 2017/565 adds that the period starts on the date the record is created, and that recordings must be stored in a durable medium that allows them to be replayed or copied and does not allow the original to be altered or deleted. Firms must also tell clients before providing order services that a copy of their recorded conversations will be available on request for that same period.
The CFTC: one year for voice
Under CFTC Regulation 1.31, a records entity that must retain oral communications keeps them for not less than one year from the date of the communication. Written pre-trade messages about the same trade fall under the general five-year period, and swap records under 1.31(b)(1) run for five years after the swap terminates or matures. A futures firm can therefore lawfully delete a recorded call while the chat that preceded it must stay for years longer.
The SEC and FINRA: three years
SEC Rule 17a-4(b)(4) requires broker-dealers to keep originals of communications received and copies of communications sent relating to their business for at least three years, the first two in an easily accessible place. FINRA Rule 3170 applies the same three years, two accessible, to the tapes a taping firm must make of calls with customers.
Keeping records too long
European firms face a pull in the other direction. The General Data Protection Regulation says in Article 5(1)(e) that personal data must be kept in a form that identifies the people in it for no longer than the purposes require. A trader’s voice and a client’s name on a call are personal data. MiFID II supplies the legal reason to hold the recordings for five years, or seven on request, but not a reason to hold them indefinitely, so a firm needs a documented reason for any recording it keeps past that point.
What the minimums do not settle
These periods are floors. A litigation hold or a regulatory inquiry overrides the schedule for the records it touches, and a firm with a documented reason may keep audio longer, since a trade can be disputed well after the minimum has run out. Storage format matters as much as length: a recording kept for five years in a system that cannot find it on request has met the retention rule and failed the purpose behind it.