Stock and ETF trading conditions
Order types and Order handling
Algorithmic orders are available for both Cash Stocks and Single Stock CFDs. Essentially, Algorithmic orders provide clients with the opportunity to trade through various strategies with larger ticket sizes that may otherwise impact the market price. They can also break down an order in smaller bites to avoid showing the full size of their order. This may be of particular interest for clients trading Stocks and Single Stock CFDs outside of the most liquid names. The following 'Algo' order types are offered:
- VWAP
- TWAP
- With Volume
- Implementation Shortfall
- Pre-Market Limit
- Iceberg
- Reload
- Dark
- Liquidity Seeking
- Market on Close
- Limit on Close
Supported markets:
| APAC | EMEA | NORTH AMERICA |
|---|---|---|
| Australia Hong Kong Japan Singapore | Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany Ireland Italy Netherlands Norway Portugal South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom | Canada United States |
More informations on Algorithmic and advanced orders in SaxoTraderPRO
Certain exchanges do not support Market orders. If a client places a market order in these markets, Saxo will automatically convert the order to an aggressive Limit order within a certain percentage limit “in the money”.
The Percentage Limit varies between 1% and 4% depending on the exchange and the type of instrument. Please note that it is a client’s responsibility to check if the order is filled in the market after order entry.
If you experience or suspect any errors with your order, you should contact Saxo immediately.
Exchange
- American Stock Exchange (AMEX)
- Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE)
- OMX Copenhagen (CSE)
- Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)
- OMX Helsinki (HSE)
- London International Exchange (LSE_INTL)
- OMX Stockholm (SSE)
- London Stock Exchange (LSE_SETS)
- Singapore Exchange (SGX-ST)
In addition, some of our execution brokers may choose to convert Market orders on certain exchanges into aggressive limit orders 3% “in the money”. This is due to their internal compliance and is intended to protect clients from unintentionally moving the market.
Saxo will not be responsible for missing fills due to this.
Saxo supports the placement of market orders while the market is closed. As the market may open at a very different price from where it closed, this could lead to shares being bought for more cash than is available in your account.
To minimize this risk, the system will calculate an additional cash buffer that must be available in order to place market orders to buy shares. Should the order placement be rejected a limit order may be attempted instead as the limit price will provide a maximum purchase price.
In general, Saxo consolidates liquidity from a number of sources in addition to the primary exchange to improve the execution price for our clients. However, when there is a delay in the opening of a listing on the primary exchange, orders sent prior to the opening uncross will only participate on the primary exchange until trading commences. Other sources of liquidity (secondary venues, dark pools, MTFs etc.) are utilized post primary market open.
Please note, you may see streaming prices inside the trading platform before the primary exchange is open depending on your data subscription. However, market orders, stop orders or aggressive limit orders submitted prior to the open, will not be filled until the opening print from the primary exchange.
In case an order regarding a security is split, and filled partially over a period of more than one day, the total trading costs may increase. The reason for such increase is that the minimum fee may be charged more than one time based on the number of days necessary for the total execution of the order.
Exchange and market specific conditions
When trading Chinese A-shares listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges via the Hong Kong Stock Connect the following fees apply;
| Stamp Duty (charged by SAT, only for seller) | 0.05% |
| Handling Fee (charged by SSE/SZSE) | 0.00341% |
| Securities Fee (charged by CSRC) | 0.002% |
| Transfer Fee (charged by ChinaClear / HKSCC) | 0.004% |
| Portfolio fee, based on value slab (Charged by CCASS) | 0.008% to 0.003% |
Please note that the following trading conditions for the North Bound Stock Connect (Hong Kong - Shanghai/Shenzhen) apply:
| Trading Currency | CNH (RMB) |
| Order Types | Limit orders only, throughout the day (day order) |
| Order Price Limits) | Typically ± 10% Last Close Price |
| Max order size | 1 Million Shares |
| Lot size | Buy (100) Sell (1) |
| Tick Size | CNH 0.01 |
| No amendment of orders | Orders must be cancelled and re-entered |
| Day Trading | Not permitted – Anything bought on T can only be sold on or after T +1 |
| Sell only | Some symbols are categorized as sell only on certain dates by exchange |
| Daily Quota | Click here for more information |
Please note that Northbound Trading is closed the day before a Public Holiday in Hong Kong.
Click here to view the monthly HKEX calendar.
For more information and details please visit the dedicated HKEx Stock Connect website.
Taxation by market
For French large cap stocks a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) of 0.30% applies to all buy trades. The full list of stocks can be found in the official application decree (in French).
Sales or purchase of Hong Kong stocks are subjected to stamp duty at 0.10% and to other charges at 0.0085%. Note: Automated trading from 09:30-16:00 HKT with a break between 12:00-13:00 HKT.
Stocks have an ITP (Irish Takeover Panel) levy charge of 1.25 Euros for stock purchases and sales, where the trade value exceeds 12,500 Euros. Ireland Stamp Duty 1.0% of Transaction Value for stock purchases only
From 1 March 2013 the Italian Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) of 0.10% will go live on all purchases of Italian shares and Equity linked securities (i.e. depositary receipts) in listed companies that have a registered office in Italy. Please find here the Ministerial Decree as issued by the Italian Minister of Economy and Finance.
The clearing fee for Malaysian stocks is 0.03% (max MYR 1,000) and a stamp duty of 0.10% (i.e., MYR 1.00 for every MYR 1,000 of value of shares traded with max MYR 1000) will be charged for all stocks.
A clearing fee for trading Singapore listed securities is payable at 0.0325% of contract value.
SGX listed securities also incur a trading fee of 0.0075% of the traded value, in addition to our regular commissions and fees.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange applies a Securities Transfer Tax (STT) of 0.25% when opening a stock position (on stock buy trades) - this tax is not applicable to Single Stock CFD trades.
The Spanish Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) of 0.20% is applied to all purchases of Spanish shares and equity-linked securities (i.e. depositary receipts) in listed companies with a capitalisation above EUR 1bn. The full list of stocks can be found on the website of the Spanish Tax Authority (in Spanish).
For UK stocks a Panel for Takeovers and Mergers (PTM) Levy and Stamp Duty may be applicable. Stamp Duty is applied on all buy transactions at a rate of 0.5% of the transaction value. A PTM Levy of GBP 1 is applied to buy and sell transactions where the Gross Value of the trade exceeds GBP 10,000. Please note that for Irish registered stocks, Stamp Duty is 1% of the transaction value.
Saxo passes on to clients the SEC Section 31 fee of USD 27.80 per million effective 22 May 2024 on US exchange CFD DMA and stock SELL transactions where client orders are entered directly into the underlying market. This fee only applies to US exchanges.
For more information please read press release published by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Section 871(m) of the US Internal Revenue Code classifies some payments from US equity derivatives and other linked instruments as “dividend equivalent amounts” (DEA), and therefore subject to a withholding tax. Saxo will book such withholding tax to your account (where applicable).
Note: As the above is applicable to certain instruments only, you are encouraged to do your own due diligence or obtain independent tax advice in respect of any transactions that you make via Saxo.
Corporate action handling
Termination: For securities classified as “depository receipts” conversion and termination events are announced as per information from the agent. As per event terms, client’s holding depository receipt are given opportunity to convert their holdings into common shares to the subjective issuer.
These events are offered in specific markets as per service terms where applicable. However, the event will only be offered for participation in supported markets. In such cases, where the conversion into common shares are not offered, the information will be included in the event notification. To participate in the event, clients should consult with their financial advisor.
Conversion: Corporate actions offer only final conversion opportunity (termination event) to clients.
Additional Stocks are allocated on the Ex-date.
Cash payment is allocated on Ex-date for value Pay date.
Corporate actions events may result in entitlements in the product which cannot be supported. In case of such entitlements, an information only event will be advised to move the resultant entitlements to another broker upon receipt. Saxo do not hold any liability on any losses or compliance arising. Saxo advise clients to read the documents for the terms and conditions of the offer.
Currency options are not extended to clients. When a currency option is announced within the framework of an event, the payment will be processed as per the denominated currency of the security listing.
Cash dividends are booked on the Pay date based on the holdings as one day prior to the Ex-date. Dividend payments from Stock positions will be credited to the clients account with any applicable withholding taxes deducted.
The day before a Corporate Action event is scheduled to take effect (the Ex-date), open orders are deleted for certain event types.
The following details the rules of behaviour:
| Event type | Never delete orders | Always delete orders | Rule defined below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonus issue | x | ||
| Capital gains distribution | x | ||
| Cash dividends | x | ||
| Dividend option /Dividend reinvestment | x | ||
| Exchange offer | x | ||
| Liquidation | x | ||
| Mergers & Mergers with elections | x | ||
| Priority issues | x | ||
| Rights issues | x | ||
| Share premiums | x | ||
| Stock dividends | x | ||
| Stock splits / Reverse stock splits | x | ||
| Spin off | x | ||
| Tender offers | x | ||
| Warrant exercise | x |
For distributions and rights issues, all open orders for the given instrument will be deleted if the change in market price is calculated to be over 20%, due to the Corporate Action event.
It is standard practice for US depositary receipts to charge an annual administration fee per depository receipt, depending on the issuing depositary bank. The intention of the fee is to cover costs for banks that take on operational processes necessary, to issue and trade the depositary receipt line. Typically, the fee is deducted when dividend payments are made, however, in case the depositary receipt does not pay a dividend or did not include the custodial fee in their dividend events, the fee will be administered through fee-only events.
The dividend fee is stipulated in the Deposit Agreement between the depositary bank and the company based upon industry standards. The Deposit Agreement is filed with the SEC and is readily accessible by the public.
The fee per depositary receipt is not dependent on the total amount of dividend being paid but the amount of Stocks held.
Saxo will look to pass on these fees once the fee structure is applied.
Some issuers offer an alternative to cash by way of a dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) or scrip issue of shares.
DRIPs are a reinvestment of the cash dividend and the price can only be calculated on the actual date of purchase. Distribution of stock takes place later. DRIPs are subject to commissions and other market charges. Clients will be offered options according to the agent. Based on the offered options, clients may elect to have their dividends reinvested or to receive the dividends in the form of cash. Partial elections cannot be accepted.
Cash entitlements are booked on pay date.
Stock entitlements can take up to 10 business days after the cash pay date to be received. The number of additional shares will be calculated as follows:
- The number of shares elected multiplied by net dividend rate (gross rate – applicable tax) divided by Reinvestment Price.
Corporate actions events are announced in different markets whereby documents and beneficial owner details may be required. In such cases, Saxo will specify the information in the event notification, to advise the client of the additional requirements to fulfil by the stated deadline. Clients are advised to refer to the event notification details. All documents are shared with clients on a separate email where applicable. Clients are advised to check with their advisor, for legal and compliance matters.
In the event of missing or incomplete documents, client instructions may be rejected. No liability will be accepted in the event of missing or incomplete documents.
In such cases, clients are advised to respond to the original email which will be provided by Saxo, with the additional requirements stipulated. Any deviation from the original email may result in delay or non-acceptance of the documents / instructions.
For exchange offers, customers holding a position in their portfolio will have the possibility to elect prior to the deadline. Please note that any holdings that have elected to exchange, will be debited on the instruction deadline date and will be booked on a dummy security (represented by a LOCK symbol). This is to prevent elected holdings from being sold before the payment date. The exchange entitlement will be booked upon receipt from the agent.
In the case where scale back of exchange occurs, holdings not accepted will be unblocked and proceeds for the accepted exchange instructions will be booked upon receipt from the agent.
In corporate actions, issuers may announce to offer resultant entitlements in different markets. In such cases, resultant entitlements first should be transferred and registered in the respective markets and after that will be available for trading. Such movements may take additional time. During the transfer period client entitlements will be blocked for trading.
Holdings in the liquidated company will be removed. Liquidation proceeds, if any, will be allocated.
Mandatory corporate action events are processed on ex-date and which result in tradeable entitlement. However, in some cases pay date of the event is not confirmed or beyond the tradeable cycle. In such cases, Saxo will process the entitlement to a dummy security to block the trading. Resultant entitlements will be booked to clients accounts as soon as received from agent.
Clients have the right to vote on certain corporate matters, voting can have an impact on the companies strategy and therefore its value.
Information about general meetings will be provided to all clients including those who do not intend to vote.
Saxo platforms lists upcoming events relevant to your holdings. The list also contains links to further information about each event and the due date for casting votes.
From here it will be possible to sign up for the voting service, and to launch the ballots to vote at the events. The module is located in the menu under “Corporate Actions -> Shareholder Voting”
This will ensure that you receive information of upcoming meetings, are able to view ballots and have a mechanism to execute vote instructions.
There will be a charge for signing up for the service which is as follows:
Description | Cost |
Service subscription | EUR 30 p.a. excl. VAT |
Vote/Changing a vote | EUR 5 per vote excl. VAT |
The Service subscription fee will be charged on a quarterly basis at the end of the quarter and is non-refundable. Clients opting in and out within the same quarter will be charged the full amount. When relevant, the service subscription fee will be converted to the applicable local currency and subject to a currency conversion charge.
The per vote fee will be charged at the time of voting. When relevant, the per vote fee will be converted to the applicable local currency and subject to a currency conversion charge.
Note that both the service subscription fee and per vote fee will first be charged at the end of Q4 2020. No service subscription fee will be charged for Q3 2020.
Saxo will not be able to offer meeting services for the following markets:
Subscription Level | Market | Service Status |
EU & EEA services | Norway | Market not available |
Global services | Australia where clients have a HIN account | Service not available. |
For mandatory Mergers there are different outcomes:
- Cash (distributed on Pay-Date)
- Stocks (distributed on Ex-Date)
- Mix of Cash & Stocks (distributed on Ex-date)
For mergers with elections, clients have the possibility to elect prior to the deadline.
Sometimes a Corporate Action involves an instrument that is Non-Online Tradable with Saxo.
Under those circumstances, the procedures are as follows:
Positions in new instruments that are 'Non-Online Tradable', assigned resulting from a Corporate Action, are booked to the client’s account. The instrument will be added to the client’s account for reporting purposes only.
Clients holding the stock as of Ex-date will be given the possibility to subscribe for new shares. The offer to purchase new shares is not transferable.
Rights issues are a two-step event. Step one - Rights distribution and step two - Subscription. Under rights distribution, rights get distributed to clients based on holdings as at ex-date - 1. Rights can be transferable or non-transferable.
Transferable rights, also known as renounceable (tradeable) rights, are issued to existing shareholders and can be traded in the open market.
Non-transferable or non-renounceable rights cannot be bought or sold due to being non-transferable.
Clients can choose to sell the rights or subscribe to new stock. If Saxo does not receive a response from clients by the reply deadline date stipulated, rights will be sold on best effort basis on behalf of the client before they expire. The proceeds from the sale will be distributed to clients, less standard commission for the account. This is to assist in the prevention of rights being worthless when they expire. Please note that the trading of rights is being supported up to the client’s deadline date. Please note that this is done for positions only worth more than Euro 30 per client but is not offered for APAC listed securities and rights held on the Portuguese and Belgium market.
In case clients wish to subscribe in the offer, they should ensure to instruct in the multiple(s) advised in the notification. Failure to comply will result in the rejection of instructions and clients will not be notified of the rejection.
For some Rights issues, there is the possibility to oversubscribe. To do so, the client must take up their full entitlement to the ordinary rights.
Oversubscription may be subject to scale back.
Clients should ensure that the account where positions are booked to, are funded sufficiently with the relevant cash on the same day of instructions submission to exercise and or oversubscribe. This cash should continue to remain available on the chosen account at time of electing, until the Saxo instruction deadline. In case of insufficient cash, instructions will be rejected without prior notification.
Where clients have multiple sub-accounts the cash must be held on the sub-account where the position is booked to, from the date and time of instruction submission until the Saxo instruction deadline date. In the event of insufficient cash on the correct sub-account, instructions will be rejected without prior notification.
Subscription costs will be debited on the instruction deadline date and the resultant entitlement will be booked to a dummy security.
The new entitlement will be booked upon receipt from the agent.
If the rights are non-tradable, they will lapse and become worthless.
For rights issues where a temporary line is paid upon subscription, the temporary line will be moved into the ordinary line via a Pari Passu event.
Should issuer pay lapse/bookbuild proceeds on unexercised rights then, clients will be credited accordingly.
For certain event types including but not limited to Non-Renounceable Rights Distributions, Subscription Offers, Entitlement Offers, Rapid Offers, Retail Offers. Saxo may not be able to participate and as such will not make such offers available to clients.
Share Purchase Plans Events (SPP) will be offered to underlying beneficial owner clients however clients will need to provide the underlying beneficial owner details requested by Saxo.
Cash payment is allocated on Ex-date for value Pay date.
In the Spanish market, bonus rights events are announced as information to clients. This is a mandatory event, offering client tradeable rights for the specified trading period which clients may trade and hold.
Remaining holdings held after the trading period, will be converted/redeemed for the resultant entitlement (subject to the applied market tax rate) announced in the event.
Special and infrequent Corporate Actions may occur within the corporate actions handling process. Saxo will handle such Corporate Actions in the best interest of clients to the extent that time and operational process permits.
In Italian market, special voting right events are not announced.
Clients will receive a distribution of securities issued by another company, these securities may be in an existing company or newly created. Additional stocks are allocated on Ex-date.
Additional Stocks are allocated on the Ex-date for value on the Pay Date.
New Stock positions are allocated on the Ex-date.
In Swedish market, redemption rights events are announced as information to the clients. This is a mandatory event, offering client tradeable rights for the specified trading period which clients may trade and hold.
Remaining holdings post trading period will be converted/redeemed for the resultant entitlement (subject to the applied market tax rate) announced in the event.
Clients will have the possibility to tender. Please note that any holdings elected to tender will be debited on the instructions deadline date and will be booked to a dummy security. The tender entitlement will be booked upon receipt from the agent.
Clients holding warrants will have the possibility to exercise their warrant prior to the deadline. Warrants not sold or exercised will lapse worthless.
Holiday Overview
During holidays, markets and exchanges around the world are closed at certain times. Upcoming holiday schedules will be posted below.
Christmas 2024 and New Year 2025
