Upon approval by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (“CSRC”), the rules for circuit breaker mechanism for index issued by the Shanghai Stock Exchange (“SSE”), the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (“SZSE”) and the China Financial Futures Exchange (“CFFEX”)(collectively, “Exchanges”) will come into force on January 1, 2016.
The launch of the circuit breaker mechanism is a response to the A-share crisis during the second half of 2015. Notably, CSRC pointed out in the press conference held on December 4 that the proposed circuit break mechanism was developed with full consideration of the current market rules and practices, with the aim to draw on overseas experience while still considering China’s own market conditions, and hopefully to achieve better effects. We also note that due to the existence of the current price limit system, the effects of the circuit break mechanism have yet to be seen.
Below is an overview of the relevant rules issued by the Exchanges. Specifically, the Exchanges have issued the new rules in the following notices: the Notice of Adding Section 5 Circuit Breaker Mechanism for Index to Chapter 4 of "SSE Trading Rules" (Shang Zheng Fa (2015) No. 94 Document), the Notice of Adding Section 6 to Chapter 4 of “SZSE Trading Rules” (Shen Zheng Hui (2015) No. 389 Document), and the Notice of Amending “CFFEX Trading Rules” and Its Relevant Implementing Rules. The Exchanges simultaneously released the Circuit Breaker Mechanism for Index Business Q&A (“Q&A”) to provide guidelines for investors to understand how the circuit breaker mechanism for Index will operate.
Circuit Breaker for Index
The Circuit Breaker for Index refers to when the variation of an index reaches a certain threshold, exchanges will pause trading for a certain period of time or close trading with a public announcement in an effort to control the intraday volatility of stock prices.
Circuit Breaker Limits
There are two limits for the circuit breaker, 5% and 7%, which once triggered, will cause the suspension of trading or close of the trading day. The relevant stock-related varieties will be suspended when any of the following circumstances occurs on the CSI 300 Index: (1) where the CSI 300 Index moves 5% or more up or down compared to the previous trading day’s closing point, the circuit breaker will last 15 minutes, and trading will be resumed after the circuit breaker expires. If the circuit breaker is enacted between 2:45 pm and 3:00 pm, the circuit breaker will last until 3:00 pm, and trading will not be resumed that day; (2) where the CSI 300 Index moves 7% or more up or down compared to the previous trading day’s closing point, the circuit breaker will last until 3:00 pm, and trading will not be resumed on that day.
The table below illustrates the respective circuit breaker mechanism applicable to each of the Exchanges.
It is worth noting that CFFEX also adopts the following special arrangements:
- Since currently the delivery settlement price of the stock index futures is calculated at the last two-hour arithmetic average price of the underlying stock index on the stock index futures settlement day, to ensure normal settlement of stock index futures, the circuit breaker mechanism will no longer be implemented after 1:00 pm on the stock index futures settlement day, specifically: (1) no circuit breaker will be implemented from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, (2) any circuit breaker implemented in the morning will at latest end by 1:00 pm, and the trading will then be resumed.
- The trading hours of stock index futures will be adjusted to the same as the stock market, namely, the call auction period for stock index futures shall be 9:25 -9:30 am on each trading day and the continuous auction trading hours shall be 9:30 -11:30 am and 1:00 -3:00 pm on each trading day.