Odd-Lot Day Trading? FSC Warns of Increased Market Risks
Taiwan's FSC stated that allowing intraday day trading and margin trading for odd lots could increase market risks. Instead, they are evaluating aligning odd-lot trading hours with regular trading hours by 9:00 AM.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 24, 2026 at 18:39
- 🔍 Collected: April 24, 2026 at 19:02 (22 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 24, 2026 at 21:04 (2h 2m after Collected)
Central News Agency
(CNA Reporter Su Ssu-yun, Taipei, 24th) Regarding public attention on whether odd-lot and regular-lot stocks can share the same trading hours, and the potential opening of odd-lot day trading, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) reported that allowing intraday odd-lot day trading and margin trading could increase market risk. After evaluation by the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), the initial step will be to study aligning the order and trading hours of the odd-lot market with those of the regular-lot market.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen recently highlighted the differences between current odd-lot and regular-lot trading during a legislative interpellation, inquiring about the chances of opening odd-lot day trading. The FSC agreed to submit a written report within one month.
The FSC's written report was released today, pointing out that differences between intraday odd-lot and regular-lot trading systems include trading and order times, matching and order methods, trading instruments, and order placement methods. Regarding trading and order times, the regular market currently opens at 9:00 AM, while the intraday odd-lot market begins matching at 9:10 AM. This setup is designed to allow odd-lot investors to observe broad market trends before deciding on their intraday odd-lot trading prices.
In terms of trading instruments, the FSC explained that the policy objective of the intraday odd-lot market is financial inclusion, allowing small-capital investors to participate in the securities market. To prevent small retail traders from bearing the high risks associated with leveraged trading, margin trading, day trading, and securities lending are currently prohibited.
Regarding order placement methods, the FSC noted that to prevent securities personnel from mistakenly inputting odd-lot trading units and causing disputes, orders and reports are strictly limited to electronic trading forms—except for professional institutional investors. This differs from regular-lot trading, which allows both manual and electronic orders.
If the trading systems for odd-lot and regular-lot markets were identical, the FSC report indicated three major problems could arise: first, price gaps could not be eliminated, leading to market disputes; second, system maintenance costs and complexity would increase; and third, opening leveraged trading instruments for intraday odd lots could escalate overall market risks.
The FSC elaborated that the intraday odd-lot market was established primarily for retail investors to encourage long-term holding and financial inclusion, purposefully separating its trading instruments from the regular market. Opening margin trading and related leveraged instruments could result in four negative impacts:
First, market leverage expansion and increased default risks would force retail investors to bear excessive risk. Second, arbitrage and order-splitting behaviors might increase, dispersing liquidity across regular and odd-lot markets and weakening price discovery functions. Third, operational and system burdens on securities firms would rise, potentially leading to operational difficulties such as the inability to settle cash dividend fractional differences or stock shortfalls. Fourth, low-liquidity assets might fail to execute promptly during liquidation or forced short covering, further elevating risks for investors and securities firms.
However, the FSC's report also mentioned the timeline for optimizing the intraday odd-lot system. Considering the continuous expansion of the odd-lot market size and significantly increased investor participation, market demands for trading convenience and institutional fairness have grown. After evaluation by the TWSE, to ensure fairness for odd-lot investors while balancing investor risk and broker system loads, a study will first be conducted on aligning the order and trading hours of the odd-lot market with the regular market.
Regarding the planning schedule, the FSC outlined two phases. First, the TWSE will gather opinions from market participants—including securities firms, information vendors, listed companies, and peripheral securities units—on advancing the intraday odd-lot opening time to 9:00 AM, expected to be completed by the end of October this year.
Second, the feasibility study phase. The FSC noted that if a consensus is reached among market participants, they can draft and review regulations and system adjustment plans, and propose draft amendments to relevant rules, estimated to take about 3 months. System modifications and investor education campaigns are estimated to take another 6 months, meaning completion would be around the end of July 2027 at the earliest. (Editor: Yang Lan-hsuan) 1150424
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(CNA Reporter Su Ssu-yun, Taipei, 24th) Regarding public attention on whether odd-lot and regular-lot stocks can share the same trading hours, and the potential opening of odd-lot day trading, the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) reported that allowing intraday odd-lot day trading and margin trading could increase market risk. After evaluation by the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE), the initial step will be to study aligning the order and trading hours of the odd-lot market with those of the regular-lot market.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen recently highlighted the differences between current odd-lot and regular-lot trading during a legislative interpellation, inquiring about the chances of opening odd-lot day trading. The FSC agreed to submit a written report within one month.
The FSC's written report was released today, pointing out that differences between intraday odd-lot and regular-lot trading systems include trading and order times, matching and order methods, trading instruments, and order placement methods. Regarding trading and order times, the regular market currently opens at 9:00 AM, while the intraday odd-lot market begins matching at 9:10 AM. This setup is designed to allow odd-lot investors to observe broad market trends before deciding on their intraday odd-lot trading prices.
In terms of trading instruments, the FSC explained that the policy objective of the intraday odd-lot market is financial inclusion, allowing small-capital investors to participate in the securities market. To prevent small retail traders from bearing the high risks associated with leveraged trading, margin trading, day trading, and securities lending are currently prohibited.
Regarding order placement methods, the FSC noted that to prevent securities personnel from mistakenly inputting odd-lot trading units and causing disputes, orders and reports are strictly limited to electronic trading forms—except for professional institutional investors. This differs from regular-lot trading, which allows both manual and electronic orders.
If the trading systems for odd-lot and regular-lot markets were identical, the FSC report indicated three major problems could arise: first, price gaps could not be eliminated, leading to market disputes; second, system maintenance costs and complexity would increase; and third, opening leveraged trading instruments for intraday odd lots could escalate overall market risks.
The FSC elaborated that the intraday odd-lot market was established primarily for retail investors to encourage long-term holding and financial inclusion, purposefully separating its trading instruments from the regular market. Opening margin trading and related leveraged instruments could result in four negative impacts:
First, market leverage expansion and increased default risks would force retail investors to bear excessive risk. Second, arbitrage and order-splitting behaviors might increase, dispersing liquidity across regular and odd-lot markets and weakening price discovery functions. Third, operational and system burdens on securities firms would rise, potentially leading to operational difficulties such as the inability to settle cash dividend fractional differences or stock shortfalls. Fourth, low-liquidity assets might fail to execute promptly during liquidation or forced short covering, further elevating risks for investors and securities firms.
However, the FSC's report also mentioned the timeline for optimizing the intraday odd-lot system. Considering the continuous expansion of the odd-lot market size and significantly increased investor participation, market demands for trading convenience and institutional fairness have grown. After evaluation by the TWSE, to ensure fairness for odd-lot investors while balancing investor risk and broker system loads, a study will first be conducted on aligning the order and trading hours of the odd-lot market with the regular market.
Regarding the planning schedule, the FSC outlined two phases. First, the TWSE will gather opinions from market participants—including securities firms, information vendors, listed companies, and peripheral securities units—on advancing the intraday odd-lot opening time to 9:00 AM, expected to be completed by the end of October this year.
Second, the feasibility study phase. The FSC noted that if a consensus is reached among market participants, they can draft and review regulations and system adjustment plans, and propose draft amendments to relevant rules, estimated to take about 3 months. System modifications and investor education campaigns are estimated to take another 6 months, meaning completion would be around the end of July 2027 at the earliest. (Editor: Yang Lan-hsuan) 1150424
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The text, images, and audio/video of this website may not be reproduced, broadcast publicly, or transmitted and utilized publicly without authorization.