Market maker arrangements
Exchange traded products
Each day the ETF issuer publishes the list of securities that make up the ETF or ETP, enabling market makers to calculate the net asset value (NAV) of the ETF throughout the trading day. This helps market makers to more accurately price the ETFs. They place a 'spread', which is their return, around the NAV, resulting in:
- a bid price, at which they will buy ETFs, and
- an offer price, at which they will sell ETFs.
They then place these prices on ASX for investors to trade with. This spread will vary throughout the trading day.
The appointed market makers receive incentives from ASX when making markets in accordance with the applicable market making specifications. The market making specifications include a minimum time period for making markets under the scheme, as well as a minimum liquidity requirement. There is also a limit on the maximum spread between the bid and offer price that a market maker can quote when making markets under the scheme.
The schemes recognise that there will be certain circumstances when the appointed market makers cannot reasonably be expected to make markets in accordance with the market making specifications.
You generally pay a little more to buy ETFs than you would receive for selling ETFs at any given time. The width of the spread can vary between different ETFs. For some heavily traded ETFs the offer may be only a couple of cents higher than the bid, while for less liquid ETFs the spread may be wider.
Market makers have an important role in ensuring that buyers and sellers can transact in markets. Market makers receive incentives from ASX when making markets in accordance with the market making specifications under the applicable schemes. The specifications set out below are a summary of select terms in the market making incentive agreements between ASX and relevant maker makers, and are not intended to be a definitive or comprehensive summary of those agreements.
ASX does not incentivise ETPs with internal market making arrangements. ETPs that use internal market making are generally noted with “N/A” in the table below. For specific information about the risks associated with internal market making, please refer to ‘Fund Specific Risks’ here.
*All references to time are to Australian Eastern Standard Time or Australian Eastern Daylight Time (as applicable) unless otherwise stated.
Please click here to learn more about market making arrangements.
Quoting schedules
Requirements by schedule
| Bid Price in $AUD | Maximum Spread | Minimum Quantity |
| Schedule 1 | ||
| <$5 | 2c | $50,000 |
| >$5 | 40bps | $50,000 |
| Schedule 2 | ||
| <$5 | 3c | $30,000 |
| >$5 | 60bps | $30,000 |
| Schedule 3 | ||
| <$5 | 5c | $25,000 |
| >$5 | 1% | $25,000 |
| Schedule 4 | ||
| <$5 | 7c | $20,000 |
| >$5 | 1.50% | $20,000 |
| Schedule 5 | ||
| <$5 | 10c | $17,500 |
| >$5 | 2% | $17,500 |
| Schedule 6 | ||
| <$5 | 12c | $15,000 |
| >$5 | 2.50% | $15,000 |
| Bid Price in $AUD | Maximum Spread | Minimum Quantity |
| Schedule 7 | ||
| <$5 | 17c | $12,500 |
| >$5 | 3.50% | $12,500 |
| Schedule 8 | ||
| <$5 | 25c | $10,000 |
| >$5 | 5% | $10,000 |
| Schedule 9 | ||
| <$5 | 37c | $7,500 |
| >$5 | 7.50% | $7,500 |
| Schedule 10 | ||
| <$5 | 50c | $5,000 |
| >$5 | 10% | $5,000 |
| Schedule 11 | ||
| <$5 | 1.5c | $100,000 |
| >$5 | 0.3% | $100,000 |
Description of quoting specifications for Market Makers
Minimum % of time to maintain two-way quotes
80% of the time from 10:15 until commencement of the Pre-CSPA (Closing Single Price Auction) Session State (generally 16:00) on any trading day.
Maximum Spread (Being the offer price less the bid price
The maximum spread referred to in schedules 1-10 above is based on the relevant Bid price in $AUD.
Minimum Quantity of Products in each bid and offer ($AUD)
The minimum quantity for Products referred to in schedules 1-10 is based on the Bid price for the bid quantity and Offer price for the offer quantity in $AUD.
