Trading at the SIX Swiss Exchange

The exchange begins with you

The electronic trading platform of the SIX Swiss Exchange ensures automatic execution and fully integrated settlement of all stock-exchange transactions. But it all starts with you: online or through your relationship manager, you place a buy or sell order which is entered into the bank's trading system. From there, the information is transmitted to the central Exchange System of the SIX Swiss Exchange. However, your order includes far more information than simple attributes such as "buy 100 units".

Market vs limit

Specifically, when placing a buy order, you determine whether the share purchase should be carried out without a price limit (so-called "market order"), i.e. whether it should be carried out even at a price above the current stock-exchange price, or whether a price limit should apply (so-called "limit order"). The same applies to sell orders except that, in this case, a market order means that the share will be sold at the next bid, which may be lower than the current stock-exchange price.

Order book

In the early days of the stock market, the order book was an actual book in which the stockbroker entered buy and sell orders in order to determine prices. Today, it exists only electronically. The resulting price (stock-exchange price) is also derived automatically. Each valid order is entered into the order book. The orders are arranged by price, and, if the prices are the same, by price-time priority. All registered traders are entitled to inspect the order book.

If you place a stock-market order via your bank, it does not necessarily appear in the order book. For example, if the appropriate number of shares for your market order is in the order book, matching can take place immediately and the counterparty's position is removed from the order book.