Trading on Bursa Malaysia Securities

Trading questions test whether you can apply the Rules of Bursa Malaysia Securities and the Participating Organisations' Trading Manual to a live order: which phase it falls in, whether the ATS will accept it, how short sales are controlled, how margin accounts are policed and when a Direct Business Transaction needs extra reporting. Expect short scenarios with prices, times and percentages. The exam is open book, so the marks go to candidates who know where each figure sits and can apply it fast.

9 min read6 sections

Rules of Bursa Malaysia Securities (Chapters 1, 7, 8 and 10 and Schedules, consolidated as at 28 August 2026), Participating Organisations' Directives and Guidance (9 July 2026) and Participating Organisations' Trading Manual version 39 (effective 28 August 2026), all read on bursamalaysia.com on 12 October 2026. As at October 2026. Independent prep, not endorsed by SIDC or the SC.

Must-know for the exam

Board lot is 100 units for ordinary shares; odd lots are 1 to 99 units; one order may not exceed 5,000 board lots (Trading Manual paras 2.2, 2.5).
Sessions: pre-opening 8.30 a.m., trading 9.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.; pre-opening 2.00 p.m., trading 2.30 p.m., pre-closing 4.45 p.m., Trading at Last 4.50 p.m. to 5.00 p.m.
Static limits on a normal day: plus or minus 30% of the Reference Price from RM1.00, or 30 sen below RM1.00 (Trading Manual para 4.4).
Dynamic and Last Price Limits: plus or minus 8% from RM1.00, or 8 sen below RM1.00, measured from the last done price (Trading Manual paras 4.5-4.6).
Tick sizes in RM: 0.5 sen below RM1; 1 sen RM1.00-9.99; 2 sen RM10.00-99.98; 10 sen from RM100 (Trading Manual para 2.9).
Margin Financing: 3-month periods with rollover, single-client cap 20% of Effective Shareholders' Funds, Equity at least 130% of Outstanding Balance (Rule 7.30).
RSS and IDSS orders: at-tick rule (at or above best ask) normally; uptick rule after a circuit breaker until the end of the next Market Day.
Short-selling suspensions: daily gross RSS plus IDSS at 3% of outstanding shares; aggregate net short at 10% (Directive 8-002 para 5.1).
Circuit breaker on FBMKLCI falls: Level 1 at 10%, Level 2 at 15%, Level 3 at 20% (rest of day) (Trading Manual para 8.3).
DBT priced 15% or 15 sen away from previous-day VWAP: report details by 12.30 p.m. next Market Day; under 50,000 units needs approval 3 Market Days ahead.

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Traps that cost marks

Candidates mix up the static limit (order acceptance, 30%) with the dynamic limit (matching, 8%), or apply the sen-based band to a share above RM1.
Candidates assume short selling follows the same phase table as ordinary limit orders, or forget that only day orders are allowed.
Netting cash collateral against the Outstanding Balance inflates the ratio and hides a shortfall.
The prior-approval route is for small DBTs under 50,000 units; larger off-price DBTs need after-the-event reporting instead.
Candidates forget that the halt length depends on the time of the trigger as well as the level.
Candidates treat the dynamic limit like a static limit or assume the trade prints at the band edge.
Candidates assume the suspension lifts when the price recovers; it lasts for the rest of the Market Day.
Forgetting that a spouse, partners and controlled companies are lumped together as one Client.

Trading phases and order types

Rule 8.02 leaves trading sessions and phases to the Exchange; the Trading Manual (paras 2.3 to 2.5) fills in the detail. Each session opens with a pre-opening auction and the day ends with pre-closing, a closing auction and Trading at Last.

Phase	Time	What happens
Pre-opening	8.30 a.m. / 2.00 p.m.	Enter, modify, cancel; no matching; TOP and TOV shown
Main trading	9.00 a.m.-12.30 p.m. / 2.30 p.m.-4.45 p.m.	Continuous matching by price, then time
Pre-closing	4.45 p.m.	New orders must be within Last Price Limits; no matching
Trading at Last	4.50 p.m.-5.00 p.m.	Orders only at the closing price

•Market and Market-to-Limit orders: main trading only. A Market-to-Limit order fills only at the best opposite price; the balance becomes a limit order at that price.
•Market-on-Open and Limit-on-Open: first pre-opening only.
•Validity: Day, Fill-and-Kill (fill what you can, cancel the rest), Fill-or-Kill (all or nothing), Bursa GTD and GTC (up to 30 calendar days, entry day excluded).

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