Help Centre | Basics of trading HKSE stocks

1. Trading hours (SGT)

	Singapore time (GMT +8)
Auction Session	Pre-open: 09:00 – 09:30
Continuous Trading Session	Morning session: 09:30 – 12:00 Market break: 12:00 – 13:00 Afternoon session: 13:00 – 16:00
Closing Auction Session (CAS)	Reference Price Fixing Period: 16:00 – 16:01 Order Input Period: 16:01– 16:06 No Cancellation Period: 16:06 – 16:08 Random Closing Period: 16:08 – 16:10

Pre-opening Session

The pre-opening session is introduced to determine a fair opening price.

During the pre-opening session, orders are accumulated over a certain period of time and matched at the pre-defined order matching period. Orders are matched in order type, price and time priority (at-auction orders carry a higher matching priority) at the final Indicative Equilibrium Price (IEP).

The trading system only accepts at-auction orders and at-auction limit orders. The price of an order input into the trading system must not deviate nine times or more from the previous closing price or the nominal price (as the case may be), if available, or is one-ninth or less of that price. The maximum order size is 3,000 board lots per order.

Trading hours during the pre-opening session are as follows:

Order Input Period

9:00 am to 9:15 am

During the order input period, only at-auction orders and at-auction limit orders are accepted. Orders are accumulated and updated in the trading system continuously and may be modified or cancelled.

In the first period (a 15-minute Order Input Period), at-auction orders and at-auction limit orders within ±15% of the previous closing price can be entered for POS Securities. Orders can also be amended or cancelled during this period.

No cancellation Period

9:15 am to 9:20 am

During the No cancellation period, only at-auction orders and at-auction limit orders are accepted. Modification or cancellation of orders in the system will not be allowed.

Starting from the second period (a 5-minute No-cancellation Period), the allowable price limits are tightened, and the prices of new at-auction limit orders that aim to be executed in the POS must be between the highest bid & lowest ask recorded at the end of Order Input Period (i.e. recorded at 9:15am).

In order to build an order book with deeper liquidity after the market opens, passive at-auction limit orders will still be accepted provided that these orders are within ±15% from the previous closing price. However, these passive orders will not be matched during the POS.

Both at-auction orders and at-auction limit orders can be entered during the No-cancellation Period, but no orders can be amended or cancelled.

Random Matching Period

9:20 am to 9:22 am

During the Random Matching period, only at-auction orders and at-auction limit orders are accepted. Input, modification or cancellation of orders in the system will not be allowed. No order matching will be conducted if Indicative Equilibrium Price (IEP) cannot be determined.

In the third period (Random Matching Period which is up to two minutes in length), the order rules from the No-cancellation Period apply, and order matching takes place randomly within the two-minute period. The Random Matching Period will end immediately upon the start of order matching.

At the end of the Random Matching Period, orders for all POS Securities are matched at the final Indicative Equilibrium Price (IEP). Order matching is based on order type (at-auction orders first and then at-auction limit orders), price and then time priority. In cases where the final IEP cannot be established during the POS, no order matching will occur.

Blocking Period

9:22 am to 9:30 am

During the blocking period, unfilled at auction limit orders will be carried forward to CTS as limit orders. Unfilled at-auction orders will be cancelled.

Once order matching is completed, the Blocking Period starts immediately and continues until 9:30am. Orders can no longer be entered, amended or cancelled during the Blocking Period.

2. Closing Auction Session (CAS)

What is Closing Auction Session?

The Closing Auction Session is a market structure change implemented by the HKEX. During the session, market participants interested in trading at the closing price may input buy and sell orders. These orders will interact with each other to form a consensus closing price for each security and orders are executed at that price. The CAS commences immediately after the Continuous Trading Session and will last for about 8 to 10 minutes.

Effective 8 October 2019, the list of securities covered by CAS expands to include all equities (including depositary receipts, investment companies, preference shares and stapled securities), as well as funds (including exchange traded funds (ETFs) and real estate investment trusts).

For the list of CAS securities, please refer to the "CAS Eligible" indicator under the Full List of Securities available on HKEX website.

For more information, please refer to HKEX’s CAS Microsite and FAQ.

3. Trading holidays

For details, please refer to the announcement by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange:

View list of holidays

4. Board lot

The term "board lot" is commonly used in Hong Kong's securities market to refer to a trading unit. Unlike the Mainland markets where the board lot size is 100 shares, the board lot size of a listed security in Hong Kong is determined by the issuer.

Securities of less than one trading unit (i.e. one board lot) is commonly known as an odd lot in Hong Kong. Odd lots are not accepted by the Exchange’s trading system for auto-matching, but there is a special lot market in the system for odd lots trading. Exchange Participants (EPs) may post their odd lot orders onto a designated screen on the trading system for matching by other EPs. In general, share prices of odd lots are slightly lower than that of the same security in the board lot market due to their lower liquidity.

Moreover, securities worth less than $0.01 per share (below the lowest price limit in the board lot market) may also be traded in the odd lot market although they are of a quantity equal to one board lot. For example, when the nominal price of a security is at $0.01, the order price in the odd lot market can be as low as $0.001, which is the system’s lowest limit. However, the order price must not deviate nine times or more from the nominal price or is one-ninth or less of that price. Like the board lot market, the Exchange will provide the market via information vendors with real-time information about the odd lot market to enhance market transparency.

5. Product offering

- Stock

- Fund

- Warrant

- Listed Basket Warrant

- Listed Bond

6. Minimum bid size

Share price (HKD)	Minimum bid size (HKD)
$0.01 to $0.249	$0.001
> $0.25 to $0.495	$0.005
> $0.50 to $9.99	$0.010
> $10.00 to $19.98	$0.020
> $20.00 to $99.95	$0.050
> $100.00 to $199.90	$0.100
> $200.00 to $499.80	$0.200
> $500.00 to $999.5.00	$0.500
> $1,000.00 to $1,999.00	$1.000
> $2,000.00 to $4,998.00	$2.000
> $5,000.00 to $9,995.00	$5.000

7. Foreign fees payable

Type	Charges	Charged by
SFC Transaction levy	0.0027% (Rounded to the nearest cent)	SFC
FRC Transaction levy	0.00015% (Rounded to the nearest cent) (effective on 1 January 2022)	Financial Reporting Council
Trading fees	0.005% (Rounded to the nearest cent)	HKEX
Stamp duty	0.13% (Rounded up to the nearest dollar) (effective on 2 August 2021)	Government of Hong Kong
CCASS Fees	0.002% (Subject to minimum of HKD 2 and maximum of HKD 100, rounded to the nearest cent)	HKSCC
Trading Tariff	HKD $0.50	HKEX

Notes:

(1) Singapore government will levy a GST (Goods and Services Tax) at a rate of 8% on the above "Charges", "Trading Fee" and "Settlement Fee".