Guide to HK Trading Rules
In Chapter 1, we introduced the basic knowledge of the Hong Kong stock market, but you may need to know the trading rules before investing.
1、Trading Hours
HKEX regular trading schedule:
（1）Pre-Opening Session: 9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
（2）Continuous Trading Session: 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon (morning session) & 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (afternoon session)
（3）Closing Auction Session: 4:00 p.m. – 4:08 p.m. & 4:08 p.m. – 4:10 p.m.
（1）Pre-Opening Session (POS)
（2）Continuous Trading Session (CTS)
The duration of CTS is 6.5 hours generally. During the session, the OTP-C accepts limit, enhanced limit, and special limit orders supported by Futu. Some stocks and ETFs can be traded during the Extended Morning Session.
Note: Trading is conducted half-day on the eves of Christmas, New Year, and Lunar New Year.
（3）Closing Auction Session (CAS)
*Eves of Christmas, New Year, and Lunar New Year
2、Trading Rules
Hong Kong stocks are T+0 transactions, and stocks bought (shorted) on the same day can be sold (buyback) on the same day. There is no limit on the number of transactions.
3、Price Limits
Hong Kong stocks have no price limits. A stock may rise or fall 20% or more within a single trading day, so investors should control risks according to their financial situation and risk appetites.
But for specific stocks, a price limit is adopted by the HKEX during certain periods. For example, a ±15% price limit in POS.
To prevent extreme price volatility, the HKEX also adopted the volatility control mechanism (VCM) for some large-cap stocks.
VCM applies to 81 key HSI & HSCEI constituent stocks. A 5-min "cooling-off period" is triggered if the stock prices rise or fall by over 10% within 5 minutes. During the period, trading is allowed within a fixed price band, that is, ±10% of the reference price (the last traded price 5 minutes ago).
4、Minimum Trading Unit & Minimum Price Change
The minimum trading unit for an order executed on the automatic order matching system of the HKEX is one lot, which may be 10 shares or 100,000 shares. Each lot is worth between HK$10 and HK$100,000, and 60% is within the range of HK$1,000 – HK$10,000.
The minimum price change of each Hong Kong stock is determined by its share price.
5、Settlement Rules
Hong Kong stocks are required to be settled at T+2 day. In other words, for stocks traded today (T0), Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company Limited (HKSCC) will complete the settlement of funds and stocks on the second trading day (T+2).
These are the introduction to Hong Kong stock market rules. In the next chapter, we will introduce the trading products of the Hong Kong stock market.
This presentation is for informational and educational use only and is not a recommendation or endorsement of any particular investment or investment strategy. Investment information provided in this content is general in nature, strictly for illustrative purposes, and may not be appropriate for all investors. Read more