Keytrade LuxembourgTrading rules
Trading rules: US
Opening timesThe US markets are open from 3.30 pm till 10 pm (GMT-5 local time).
See also Extended hour trading.
- Market orders
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.
- Limit orders
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.
Ex: 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.
- 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.
Ex.: You bought a share at 100, that quotes at the moment 98. You wish to cover yourself against further loss. You place a stop sellorder with as stop 95. This means that if the share quote drops till 95, 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 NASDAQ or OTC-BB)
- the price of the latest executed order reaches your stop price (for stocks trading on NYSE or AMEX)
- 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.
Ex.: You bought a share at 100, that quotes at the moment 98. You wish to cover yourself against further loss. You place a stop limit sellorder. With as stop 95 and as limit 93. This means that if the share quote drops till 95, your order will be activated and becomes a sell limit order with 93 as limit.
Attention:
A stop limit order will be triggered when:- the bid or ask reaches your stop price (for orders on NASDAQ or OTC-BB)
- the price of the latest executed order reaches your stop price (for orders on NYSE or AMEX)
- AON orders
An 'AON' order is used to avoid partial executions in the case of illiquid securities.
You indicate 'AON' as fill type for your order and choose as order type 'limit'. Furthermore you fill in the other data of your order as usual.
Attention, an 'AON' order is executed entirely or not at all.
E.g. if you place an order for 500 shares limited at € 100 with fill type 'AON', your order will only be executed if there is an adversary on the market with exactly the same number and exactly the same limit.
If the match between your order and that of the adversary on the market is not complete, your order will not be executed.
Remarks
- For orders on Listed Securities (AMEX-NYSE), it is indicated to introduce multiples of 100. In principle these will be executed faster than an order for e.g. 95 shares.
- Corporate events (e.g. stock splits,…) have no effect on orders placed after closing of the markets.
E.g. You hold 100 shares X in your account. After market closing, you place a sell order for those 100 shares. The following day before market opening, a stock split takes place (2 for 1). You will get 200 shares X in your portfolio instead of 100, but your sell order for 100 shares will not change. So do always make sure whether there is a corporate event coming up.
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, then 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.
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.
When placing a GTC order the remaining part of the order will still be valid on the market until it will be executed or cancelled. In this case you only pay one transaction fee, regardless the number of partial executions.
Orders can be cancelled either by you, by the exchange or by Keytrade Bank.
If you placed an order on the US stock exchanges after closure of the stock exchange, this order can only be cancelled after 2.30 p.m. (Belgian time) the following trade day.
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:
| Euronext (Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris) | D+3 |
| London stock exchange | D+3 |
| Milan | D+3 |
| Xetra (Franckfurt) | D+2 |
| Switzerland | D+3 |
| US markets | D+3 |
| European options | D+1 |
| US options | D+1 |
| Funds | D+3 (the value date is stipulated by the issuer) |
| Bonds | D+3 |
| Currency exchange | D+2 |
