BB's Stock Haven

[Pennyes]

Float: is freely available in the open market, that means bought and sold by traders, shareholders and investors!..

Float is owned by open market participants such as shareholders, traders, investors and companies.

Whereas,
"Held in DTC"
is not owned by free market participants like shareholders, traders and investors!, that is main difference you have to understand.
It is not freely available or floating out there that one can buy or sell at their whims without any restrictions or hold?.
Most importantly it is not in the hands of shareholders, traders or investors. That is why it is not called float or free float, as it is Deposited to the DTC or Kept or Held with a company that runs book keeping and transferring shares when a legitimate transaction occurs. That company is called "DTC" Depository Trust company. Also called DTCC!?.


DTC is a book keeper or safe keeper, and clearing house, almost all the banks, brokerages and brokers dealers and ofcourse the issuer of a stock (the company), they all can deposit their shares to DTC (all the paper work such as registration of securities, transfers, settlements etc... is done by DTC.

Float is clear from any restriction, freely buy, sell or hold by anyone in the open stock market

DTC: can be "frozen", anything can happen until it is cleared for sale, that means it is not freely available for anyone to buy from open market. On the other hand, if Shares Held in DTC are clear from all regulatory issues, then Banks, broker dealers can own them until they turn around and play with it. No ordinary share buyers can play with DTC!.
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Check this out: from investopedia
Scope of the DTC's Activities

The DTC holds trillions of dollars worth of securities in custody, including corporate stocks and bonds, municipal bonds, and money market instruments. It settles funds at the end of each trading day using the National Settlement Service. The DTC is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is a member of the Federal Reserve System, and is owned by many companies in the financial industry, with the NYSE being one of its largest shareholders. Individuals do not interact with the DTC, but securities brokers, dealers, institutional investors, depository institutions, issuing and paying agents, and settling banks do.

As of July 31, 2017, the latest reporting by the DTC, the depository held more than 1.3 million current securities issues valued at $54.2 trillion.2

? These included securities issued in the United States and 131 other countries and territories.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dtc.asp