The Hong Kong Futures Exchange (HKFE) has announced that the migration of the Hang Seng Index (HSI) futures and options markets from the open outcry to the electronic Automated Trading System (ATS), subject to approval by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), should occur in May and June 1999 respectively.
The announcement was made today by the Exchange following notification of its Members of the migration time table on 4 February 1999.
HSI futures and options are currently traded on the open outcry environment and once the SFC approves the necessary rule amendments, their trading method will change to electronic order matching through the ATS.
The migration of HSI futures and options will occur in two phases beginning first with HSI futures followed later by HSI options. The migration of HSI futures should occur during May 1999 subject to the approval by the SFC of the rule amendments required to change the trading venue from open outcry to automated order matching. The migration of HSI options should occur during June, four to six weeks following the commencement of trading of HSI futures on ATS.
The exact dates of the migration of HSI futures and options will be established by the HKFE Board in March 1999 after it has evaluated the performance of the new ATS in a live trading environment.
In the meantime, a new ATS trading environment operating on Omex version 15.2 software will be brought into production on Monday, 15 March 1999. Trading of all Exchange products currently traded on the ATS, namely Red-Chip futures and options, HS 100 futures and options, HKFE Taiwan Index futures and options, One-Month HIBOR futures ,Three-Month HIBOR futures, Stock futures and Rolling Forex, will be conducted through the new ATS environment using the upgraded Omex V15.2 software.
HSI futures and options are the flagship products at HKFE. They accounted for 79% and 11% respectively of the Exchange's total turnover in January 1999.
When HSI futures and options migrate to the ATS, their trading will also be conducted through the upgraded Omex V15.2 software.
If you have any further questions, please contact Ms Chiu Yeung on 2842 9322