A form of payment that mutual funds, pension funds, and other institutional customers can use to pay for goods and services such as news subscriptions or research. When an institution gives its business to a brokerage firm, the brokerage firm in return agrees to use some of its commission dollars to pay for trading-related services, such as independent research or subscriptions to news services or publications. The usage of soft dollars has increased in recent years, as many brokerage firms have dropped their opposition to the practice due to strong demand from their clients.