Dark pools are private exchanges that allow investors to trade securities without the need for public disclosure of the details of the trade. These exchanges offer some advantages over traditional lit markets, such as increased privacy, reduced market impact, and access to liquidity that may not be available on public exchanges. Dark pools function by matching buyers and sellers anonymously, allowing traders to execute transactions away from public scrutiny. This enables traders to avoid revealing their trading strategies to the rest of the market, preventing other traders from knowing when and how to take advantage of their trades. The primary users of dark pools are large trading institutions such as hedge funds, investment banks, and proprietary trading firms, as they often make large or complex trades that might otherwise move the price of the security if executed in public. Dark pools can provide these large traders with greater anonymity and help prevent market volatility caused by sudden price movements. Critics argue that dark pools can contribute to pricing inefficiencies and make it difficult for regulators to monitor the market. There have been concerns that some traders may use dark pools to engage in illegal or manipulative trading practices, such as insider trading, front-running or other forms of market manipulation. Overall, while dark pools have provided many advantages to large institutional traders, regulators are increasingly scrutinizing these private exchanges to ensure they operate fairly and do not pose a threat to market integrity.