ADX ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM GUIDELINE 1
Article 1 — Definitions ¶
The following words and expressions shall have the meaning set opposite each of
them unless otherwise required for the context:
Market Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.
Board of Director The Market Board.
Electronic trading
System
The electronic trading system in use at the Market.
Brokerage
Company (Broker)
A juristic person licensed by Securities and Commodities
Authority (SCA) to practice Brokerage activities.
Order Information sent to the Electronic trading System by the order
operator, which, minimum, includes Securities code, quantity,
and required price, as well as the trading account number of
the Investor, and time of entering the order.
Buy Order The order sent to Electronic trading System to buy a certain
security.
Sell Order The order sent to Electronic trading System to sell a certain
security.
Trading Session The period during which transactions on securities are
executed, through entering, modifying or cancelling orders,
and executing transactions. Trading sessions are divided into
several periods based on these rules.
Opening Price The balance price between offered and ordered quantities
calculated by the electronic trading system after the pre-
opening auction ends, according to the calculation criteria
outlined in this guide.
Closing Price The balance price between offered and ordered quantities
calculated by the Electronic trading System after the
completion of the price ticks process, in accordance with the
calculation standards set out in these rules.
Deal Matching between a buy order with a sell order through the
markets Electronic trading System.
Order Logbook The register which includes all sell and buy orders for a certain
security.
ADX ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM GUIDELINE 2
Regular Orders Orders issued to buy or sell a specific security without
conditions. These orders are given priority over special orders
at the same price.
Special Orders Orders issued to buy or sell a security under specific
conditions.
Price Ticks The rate of price increase or decrease under which orders and
requests are raised or lowered.
Trade at last
session (TAL)
A session that will be held after the closing auction and only
new orders will be allowed in this session, and the price must
be the same as the closing price or very close to it. Orders in
this session will be executed on the closing price.
Trading Session
Article 2 — The trading session is divided into the following periods: ¶
Description Name Timing
Allows orders entry, amendment,
or cancellation.
Pre-opening
(Price Ticks) period
09:30 to 10:00
Orders matching start continuous
trading.
Opening 10:00
Continuous trading. Ongoing Trading Period 10:00 to 14:45
Allows order entry, amendment, or
cancellation.
Pre-closing 14:45 to 14:55
Orders matching. Pre-close Matching 14:55
Allows order entry at close price and
execution.
Trade-At-Last 14:55 to 15:00
- Closing 15:00
Trading Session Rules
Article 3 — 1. Securities are traded in the Market within the price range defined by the Board of ¶
Directors.
2. If a Security is ordered at the maximum allowed price with no corresponding
offers, or if a Security is offered at the minimum allowed price with no
corresponding Orders, and with no Deals made for two consecutive sessions, the
ADX ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM GUIDELINE 3
Order prices (maximum/ minimum) will be approved as reference closing price
until price fluctuation is calculated.
3. Price limits are not applicable to a Security at its first trading session in the Market,
so that the price shall be floated for (3) trading sessions starting from the listing
date. The share closing price at the first session shall be the reference price to
calculate the change limits on the opening of the second session. The Market
management may decide to float the price for a shorter period than above
mentioned, or to not to float the Security price if such decision will ensure the
price stability of the Security or Investor interest in the Market.
Article 4 — 1. During the pre-opening period and the pre-closing period, Orders may be entered, ¶
modified or cancelled and the available information may be reviewed through the
Electronic trading System. Unexecuted and valid Orders from the previous day may
also be carried forward to next trading session.
2. During the pre-opening period and the pre-closing period, the Electronic trading
System shall arrange the Orders entered to the System in accordance with the
established priority rules. No trades shall be executed at this stage. The Electronic
trading System calculates the opening or closing price of each traded Security.
Article 5 — 1. Executable quantities shall be executed during the opening period at the opening ¶
price calculated by the Electronic trading System. Unexecuted Orders or the
balance of partially executed Orders shall be carried forward to the ongoing
trading period.
2. Executable quantities shall be executed during the closing period at the closing
price calculated by the Electronic trading System.
Article 6 — During the ongoing trading period, Buy and Sell Transactions of Securities are ¶
executed continuously. A Broker may enter Orders and finalize Deals if there is a
match in terms of the prices and any other conditions. The Broker may also modify,
cancel, suspend or activate any unexecuted or partially executed Orders, as follows:
1. If a Buy Order is entered at a price equal to, or higher than, the price shown on
the sell side; or a Sell Order is entered at a price equal to, or less than, the price
shown on the buy side during the ongoing trading period, execution shall be
made at the price shown on the other side.
2. If a Buy or Sell Order is entered for an executable quantity at more than one price
at the other side during the ongoing trading period, such order shall be executed
ADX ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM GUIDELINE 4
in accordance with the existing price chain on priority basis until the total quantity
is executed. If the Order is not executed in full, the unexecuted quantity shall
remain in the Orders Register of the Electronic trading System, at the last executed
price.
Article 7 — At the closing period data and information are reviewed, inquiries are made and ¶
necessary reports are printed. At this stage, a Broker may not modify or cancel
existing orders or enter new Orders.
Opening and Closing Prices
Article 8 — 1. The opening and closing price shall be calculated in accordance with the following ¶
criteria:
a. The price which provides the highest executable trading quantity. If more than
one price satisfies this condition, please refer to Clause B of this Article.
b. The price which provides the lowest un-executable trading quantity. If more
than one price satisfies this condition, please refer to Clause C of this Article.
c. The price which provides the least possible change in the closing price for the
previous trading day. If more than one price satisfies this condition, please refer to
Clause D of this Article.
d. The highest price.
2. On calculating the opening and closing prices, quantities of all Orders entered into
the Electronic trading System including the un-disclosed quantities, shall be taken
into consideration.
Trading Orders
Article 9 — Orders shall be subdivided in terms of price, into the following types: ¶
1. Limit Order: An Order to buy or sell a given number of Securities at a specific price
2. Market Order (MKT): An Order entered to the Electronic trading System to buy or
sell some Securities at ADX price, as follows:
a. If a Market Order is entered into the Electronic trading System, execution
shall be made at the best price on the opposite side. In case of partial execution,
the balance quantity shall be displayed at the last executed price.
ADX ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM GUIDELINE 5
b. It is not permitted to enter MKT orders in pre-opening or in pre-closing
sessions.
3. Market At Best Orders : Market At Best orders are unpriced orders that, like
Market orders, do not have a price specified but will match only orders on the top
of the Order Book (i.e. only at the price of the best order on the other side of the
Order Book). If there are no orders on the opposing side of the Order Book at the
time of order entry then the order will be rejected. Market At Best orders normally
have an ‘immediate’ duration, meaning that if the order cannot be fully filled at
the best price, any remaining balance will be cancelled. a Market At Best order
with a non-‘immediate’ duration (such as ‘Day’ or ‘Good Till Cancel’) that partially
matches will be converted to a limit order at the top of book price at which it
matched. Market At Best orders are only permitted during continuous trading.
Market At Best orders will be rejected during Auction Sessions (such as pre-open,
pre-close).
4. Any other orders included in the electronic trading system in accordance with the
updates applied by the Market in such system.
Article 10 — Orders entered into the Electronic trading System shall be subdivided, in terms of ¶
validity period as follows:
1. Day Order: Valid until the close of trading session in the trading day during which
the Order was entered.
2. “Fill or Kill” (FOK) Order: This type of Orders is entered only during the ongoing
trading period whereby the possible quantity is executed at the specified price
instantly, and the balance quantity is cancelled in case of partial execution.
3. Good till Date (GTD) Order: An Order that whose validity period is limited to the
business day on which the Order is entered.
4. Good Till Cancel (GTC) Order: The order is valid until the one who entered the
order cancels it.
5. Session Order: A session order is valid only for a specific trading session and will
expire if not executed within that session.
Article 11 — Special Order means an Order whose execution is subject to satisfaction of one or ¶
more specific conditions. Special Orders, which may be entered in the Electronic
trading System, are divided as follows:
a. All or None (AON): The total quantity of these Orders shall be executed. An
Order may not be partially executed.
ADX ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM GUIDELINE 6
b. Minimum Fill (MF): A minimum number of Securities must be executed before it
is possible to trade the Order. It is possible to have more than one corresponding
Order for every partial trade. Following execution of the minimum fill or more,
the minimum fill requirement is rescinded, and the Order is transferred to regular
Orders Register.
c. Minimum Block (MB): Securities are executed, jointly or severally, in specific
blocks (groups) provided that the quantity requirement shall remain applicable
to Orders during the subsequent trading transactions until the full quantity is
executed. If the balance quantity is less than the minimum requirement, the Order
shall become an AON Order.
Article 12 — 1. The Order entered into the Electronic trading System, but not matched instantly, ¶
shall be posted on a waiting list in the relevant company’s Orders Register in
accordance with the priority rules set out in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article.
2. Orders are arranged in a waiting list in the company’s Orders Register in a
descending order in terms of priority, subject to the following:
a. Best price.
b. Time priority.
3. Regular Orders shall have waiting priority over Special Orders at the same price.
Article 13 — A Broker may modify details of an Order entered in the Electronic trading System, but ¶
not fully executed or cancelled, in accordance with the following:
1. When entered into the Electronic trading System, an Order loses its priority and
acquires a new priority if the Order price is modified or if the disclosed quantity is
increased or any special condition is added or deleted.
2. When entered to the Electronic trading System, an Order does not lose its priority
if the disclosed quantity is decreased or the un-disclosed quantity is modified or
the validity period is changed.
3. The Security name, the Order type (Sell or Buy) and the trading account number
may not be amended; as in such case the Order shall be cancelled and re-entering
a new order.
4. An Order is not written off the Order Logbook during the Order amendment, and
thus it may be traded while being amended.
ADX ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM GUIDELINE 7
Article 14 — Orders in the Order Logbook are executed subject to the following priorities: ¶
1. Best price: Orders with the best price shall have priority upon execution.
2. Regular Orders prior to Special Orders: Special Orders shall have second priority
following the Regular Orders entered at the same price. Special Orders shall be
tradable along with Regular Orders. When a Regular Order satisfies the matching
conditions with several other Special Orders, matching is attempted with the first
Order in the waiting list. If the first Order conditions are not satisfied, matching
shall be attempted with the next Order in the list.
3. Order entry time: Orders are arranged in time serial Order by placing the Order
which holds the earliest time stamp first, on first in first out basis.
Pricing and Price Ticks
Article 15 — 1. Market-listed Securities shall be priced in UAE Dirham (AED) and in the Price Ticks ¶
specified in these rules.
2. Orders must be entered within the framework of the Price Ticks specified by the
Market and set out in the following table:
Price Ticks (AED)
Price Range per Security (AED)
To From
0.001 0.999 0.01
0.01 9.99 1
0.02 49.98 10
0.05 99.95 50
0.10 Above 100
3. In the debt instruments market, when using percentage pricing, the price tick unit
is equal to 0.01%.
4. The Market may approve to price the Securities with any currency other than the
UAE Dirham if such Securities are issued in that currency. The Price Ticks above
shall be applied to any other currency at which the listed Security is evaluated,
unless the ADX Board decides otherwise.
ADX ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM GUIDELINE 8
Article 16 — A Broker may specify in the Order, the total number of the security or any lesser ¶
quantity shown in the Order Logbook, and hide the rest. The following are the
conditions and procedures for Orders with un-disclosed quantities:
1. An undisclosed Order may not be entered if the total quantity of the Order is
less than ten thousand (10,000) Securities, provided that the minimum disclosed
quantity is 5% of the total quantity of securities.
2. Undisclosed quantities shall only be viewable to the Broker who entered these
Orders. Disclosed quantities shall be viewable to the remaining Brokers.
3. If a disclosed quantity is executed partially, another part of the undisclosed
quantity shall be transferred automatically if there are no other Orders at the
same price in the Regular Order Logbook, in this case, the priority of the Order
with undisclosed quantity shall be rearranged.
4. If a part of a disclosed quantity is executed and a part thereof remains
unexecuted, no further parts of the undisclosed quantity shall be transferred
automatically if there are other Orders at the same price in the Regular Order
Logbook, In this case, the priority of the Order with undisclosed quantity shall be
rearranged.
5. Changes in the disclosed quantity shall not lead to change of the total Order
quantity.
6. Increase of the disclosed quantity shall result in a new time stamp for the Order
and a new priority in the waiting list of the original Order.
7. Decrease of the disclosed quantity shall not result in changing the time stamp for
the Order and the priority in the waiting list shall be for the original Order.
8. A new time stamp shall be affixed on the Order with undisclosed quantity each
time when more Securities are transferred (added) from the undisclosed quantity
to the disclosed quantity.
Dealing in Debt Instruments
Article 17 — 1. Listed Debt instruments are traded through a broker. ¶
2. Prices shall be shown on the Electronic trading System against Buy or Sell Orders at
the unit price without any accumulated interest (Clean Prices). The Buyer shall pay
the value of the bought units at their Market price plus the accumulated interests
until settlement date.
3. Buyers do not get any interest when buying any notes during the interest ex-date
period.
ADX ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM GUIDELINE 9
4. The Electronic trading System calculates the accumulated interest against debt
instruments until settlement date.
5. Public auction procedures shall be applied to fix the debt instruments prices in
accordance with the supply and demand rules, and within the applicable price
ranges.
Negotiated Deals and Big Block Trades
Article 18 — 1. Negotiated Deals are transactions where the buyer and seller agree on the ¶
number of shares, their price, and all other details outside the order book.
These transactions are executed according to the mechanism designated for
such transactions in the electronic trading system, provided that the minimum
requirements specified by the market are met.
2. Conditions for Executing Negotiated deals and Big Block Trades: It is required
that these transactions do not violate the decisions of the Authority or the market
rules, and their execution does not lead to a violation of the company’s articles of
association regarding ownership percentages.
3. The trading commissions on negotiated deals and Big block trades are calculated
based on the execution price or the closing price of the company’s shares on the
day prior to the execution of the transaction, whichever is higher.
4. Negotiated deals and Big Block trades executed in the market do not affect the
calculation of the closing price of the company’s share or the price index. They also
do not affect the highest or lowest price executed during the session or over the
last 52 weeks.
5. Articles (19) and (20): specify the minimum requirements for the execution of
negotiated deals or big block trades.
Negotiated Deals
Article 19 — 1. The broker may execute a negotiated deals through the designated mechanism ¶
in the electronic trading system for negotiated deals, provided that the following
conditions are met:
a. The value of the negotiated deals must exceed the minimum value for the
relevant category, based on the average daily trading value during the previous
year and as outlined in the table below:
ADX ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM GUIDELINE 10
Negotiated Deals Bands
ADX Band Average Daily Trading Value of a Security
The minimum value for a
negotiated transaction in
AED
Band 1 Exceeds 100 million UAE Dirhams 10 million AED
Band 2 From 50 million UAE dirhams to 100 million UAE Dirhams 7.5 million AED
Band 3 From 10 million UAE dirhams to 50 million UAE Dirhams 3 million AED
Band 4 From 2.5 million UAE dirhams to 10 million UAE Dirhams 1 million AED
Band 5 From 0 to 2.5 million UAE Dirhams 0.5 million AED
b. The minimum value for negotiated deals of newly listed securities in the market
will be according to Band 5, for a period of six months from the date of their
listing.
c. The negotiated deals must be executed at the best bid/ask price, or at a price
that is higher or lower by (5%) from the last closing price.
d. Negotiated deals can only be executed during continuous trading sessions.
2. Executing a negotiated deal does not require submitting a separate request via
the electronic service.
3. The market verifies the compliance of the transaction with negotiated deals
requirements, and it is automatically approved within 15 minutes of the entry
time.
4. The market reviews the conditions related to negotiated deals concerning a, b,
and c at least once a year and publishes them on the market’s website.
Big Block Trades
Article 20 — The broker may execute a Big Block transaction through the designated mechanism ¶
in the electronic trading system for Big Block trades, provided that the following
conditions are met:
1. A request must be submitted to the market using the approved form to obtain
approval for completing the transaction.
2. The percentage of the securities to be traded must equal or exceed (1%) of the
capital of the issuing quantity.
3. One side of the transaction must consist of a single individual, while the opposite
side may include up to ten individuals.
4. Big block trades must be executed at a price no more than 25% above or below
the closing price of the company’s shares from the previous trading day.
The market management reserves the right to exempt transactions from the limits
specified in paragraphs (4), (5), and (6) when it deems such exemptions necessary to
serve the interests of trading and the parties involved in the transaction.
ADX ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM GUIDELINE 11
Modification of Reference Closing Price
Article 21 — 1. The Market management shall modify the reference closing price for the stocks in ¶
the following cases:
a. Increasing the number of issued shares as a result of listing bonus shares. The
reference closing price shall be modified as follows:
The modified reference closing price =
(the market capitalization of the shares issued before listing the bonus shares
+ the market capitalization of the bonus shares) ÷ (the number of shares issued
before listing the bonus shares + the number of bonus shares).
b. Increasing the number of issued shares as a result of issuing capital increase
shares. The reference closing price shall be modified as follows:
The modified reference closing price =
(the market capitalization of the shares issued before listing the capital increase
shares + the market value of the capital increase shares) ÷ (the number of shares
issued before listing the capital increase shares + the number of capital increase
shares).
c. Stock split. The reference closing price shall be modified as follows:
The modified reference closing price =
(the stock closing price) x (the number of shares issued before stock split ÷ the
number of shares issued after the stock split).
2. The Market Management shall not modify the reference closing price in case of
increasing the number of the issued shares due to convertible bonds.
3. The Market Management shall float the stock price for one trading session in the
following cases:
a. Decreasing issued capital through share cancelation.
b. Decreasing issued capital through par value reduction.
The Market Management may decide not to float the stock price if such a decision
will ensure the price stability of the Security or Investor interest in the Market.
ADX ELECTRONIC TRADING SYSTEM GUIDELINE 12
P.O.BOX: 54500, Abu Dhabi, UAE
T: +971 2 627 7777 F: +971 2 612 8728
ADX_AE
Connecting Opportunities, Driving Growth.
Unofficial text extracted from public documents; formatting and completeness are not guaranteed. Verify against the official source. In case of conflict, the Arabic text prevails. Not legal advice. Official source ↗