Transaction Rules US
Here are the opening hours of markets, the types of orders authorised under the markets, their validity periods, the trading hours. That is to say, all the information you need to invest better!
Opening times
The US markets are open from 3.30 pm till 10 pm (GMT-5 local time). See also Extended hour trading.
Types of order allowed
1° Market order
A market order makes it possible to buy or sell shares immediately at any price. The final price is therefore not guaranteed (especially if there is a high activity in the security), but on the other hand there is a greater probability that your order will be executed. If you want to place a market order, do leave the "price" field empty.
Market orders cannot be placed on the OTC-BB.
Initial Public Offering (IPO): before the first trading of the share, it is not possible either to place a market order.
Last but not least: a market order in combination with a GTC order (validity of the order) is not accepted.
2° Limit order
A limit order is more precise than a market order. It makes it possible to set a limit both when purchasing and selling, but of course gives no guarantee regarding the execution of the order.
Example if you want to sell, your limit is the minimum price against which you want to sell. If the quotation is below your limit, your order will not be executed.
When placing a limited order, you do fill in the "price" field.
In order to understand clearly when to use a limit order, it is important to know that with the exception of the NYSE, the US markets are managed by market makers charged with assuring liquidity. They take positions for both purchasing and selling the securities they are responsible for, where their margin is the difference between BID & ASK. That means for a limit order to be executed, it is not sufficient for the limit to be reached during the session, but it is absolutely necessary for the market maker to have been positioned. This means that if you place a buy order, your limit should reach the ASK price for your order to be executed.
From October 3rd 2016 on , some stocks quoted on Nasdaq or NYSE will trade with a tick size of 0.05. Orders with a limit of eg 20.03 will be rejected by the exchange. The limit should be 20 or 20.05. The list of actions that meet this rule is available on the following links:
- http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=TickPilot
- ftp://ftp.nyxdata.com/Tick_Pilot/Tick_Pilot_Historical/
3° Stop orders
A stop order is a market price order, where you decide at which quote your order becomes a marketorder (Please note: This is therefore not an order limited to the specified stop price!) As soon as the share price has reached or passed the specified stop price, your order will be transformed into a market order. There is a high probability of execution, but you have no guarantee on price. These orders are valid both when selling and buying.
Example You bought a share at 100USD , that quotes at the moment 98USD . You wish to cover yourself against further loss. You place a stop sellorder with as stop 95USD . This means that if the share quote drops till 95USD , your order will be activated and becomes a marketorder that will be executed against marketprice.
We recommend great prudence when placing such orders, since the distance between the bid and ask prices can be very large, especially for small shares. It is important to bear in mind that the order will be executed at the market price, and will not be limited in any way.
Attention: A stop order will be triggered if the bid or ask reaches your stop price for stocks trading on US markets like: NASDAQ, NYSE or AMEX
4° Stop limit orders
Stop Limit orders are similar to regular Stop orders in the way they are triggered. The difference is in the way they are executed: while a Stop order is launched "at market price" (and therefore does not allow any control over the execution price), a STOP Limit order is launched as a Limit order, the limit being determined when the order is placed. We recommend to use this type of order rather than a regular Stop order as it is safer in turbulent market conditions.
When placing a sell stop limit order, please keep in mind that your stop price and limit have to be below the BID price at the moment you place your order. When placing a buy stop limit order, your stop price and limit have to be above the ASK price at the moment you place your order.
Example You bought a share at 100USD , that quotes at the moment 98USD . You wish to cover yourself against further loss. You place a stop limit sellorder. With as stop 95USD and as limit 93USD . This means that if the share quote drops till 95USD , your order will be activated and becomes a sell limit order with 93USD as limit.
Attention: A stop limit order will be triggered when
- the bid or ask reaches your stop price (for orders on NASDAQ)
- the price of the latest executed order reaches your stop price (for orders on NYSE or AMEX)
When placing a stop limit order you need to consider the following rule when placing the order, all orders that do not comply to this rule will be rejected.
| Stop Price | Limit Portion of the Stop Limit | Stop price parameters |
|---|---|---|
Less or equal to $5 | Not more than 110% | 10% |
More than $5 but less or equal to $50 | Not more than 105% | 5% |
More than $50 | Not more than 103% | 3% |
For example; a sell order entered at $10 with a stop limit of $9 would be rejected. The $1 difference between $10 and $9 is greater than the 5% parameter for a $10 stop price. The stop limit would have to be $0.50 or less.
5° Trailing Stop orders
When placing a trailing stop order, you specify a 'distance to market’, instead of a limit or stop price.
If you are selling shares with a trailing stop order, your stop price will always follow the share’s last price upwards. The stop price can never go down. The initial reference price will be the current last price. Your stop price will then automatically follow the last price when it goes higher respecting the distance you specified. Your stop price is going to change intraday.
For a trailing stop order on the buy side, your stop price follows the share’s last price downwards. The price can never go upwards. The initial reference price will be the current last price. Your stop price will then automatically follow the last price when it goes lower respecting the distance you specified. Your stop price is going to change intraday.
Once the stop price is reached, a market order is automatically sent to the market. This order is valid until the end of the current day. Caution: for illiquid shares, you may receive a bad price or even no execution at all!
An example of a sell order A share quotes 100 euro. You place a trailing stop order to sell with a distance of 1. Your stop price is 99 euro. As long as the share does not fall to 99 euro, the sell order will not be activated. The stop price will follow the share price upward while keeping a distance of 1 euro. The stop price can never go down. When the price reaches a new high of 104 euro, the new stop price will be adjusted to 103 euro.
An example of a purchase A share quotes 50 euro. You place a trailing stop order to buy with a distance of 0.5. Your stop price is 50.5 euro. As long as the share does not rise to 50.5 euros, the order will not be activated. The stop price will follow the share price down while maintaining a distance of 0.5 euro. The stop price can never rise. When the price reaches a new low of 45 euro, the new stop price will be adjusted to 45.5 euro.
During the continues phase on the market we will send a market order to the market when the stop price is reached, outside the continues faze we will send a limit order where the limit is the last traded price. (on Euronext this phase is known as the TAL period (Trading At Last)
Trailing stop orders are not possible for warrants, turbo’s and other derivatives
Duration of the validity of orders
It is possible to specify how long placed orders are to remain valid. There are two possibilities:
- Day: Your order will be valid for that day only. If it is not executed, it will be automatically cancelled. In case you entered a dayorder after closure of the stock exchange, your order will be valid the next trading day.
- GTC(Good Till Cancelled): Your order will be valid for 365 days. The orders can be cancelled by you, the stock market or Keytrade Bank.
Tick sizes of the market
| Stocks |
|---|
0-9,999 |
10-49,995 |
50-99,99 |
100+ |
| ETF’s |
|---|
0-4,999 |
5-9,999 |
10+ |
Remark When a dayorder partially gets executed during a tradingday, the remaining part that has not been executed yet will be cancelled at the end of the day. If you want the remaining part to be traded, you will have to enter a new order for the remaining part. For this new order a transaction fee will be counted.
Orders can be cancelled either by you, by the exchange or by Keytrade Bank.
Remark 2 If you wish to use the revenue of a sell, you must take into account the value date of the generated cash.
Value dates per market:
| empty-header | empty-header |
|---|---|
Euronext (Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris) | D+2 |
London Stock Exchange | D+2 |
Milan | D+2 |
Xetra (Frankfurt) | D+2 |
Switzerland | D+2 |
Madrid | D+2 |
OMX (Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhague) | D+2 |
US markets | D+2 |
Canadian markets | D+2 |
European options | D+1 |
US options | D+1 |
Funds | D+3 (the value date is stipulated by the issuer) |
Bonds | D+2 |
Currency exchange | D+1 |