Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) & Venture Exchange (TSX-V)

The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and its subsidiary, the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V), are key players in Canada’s financial markets.

They provide a platform for companies to raise capital through equity listings, offering investors a diverse range of investment opportunities.

The difference between TSX and TSX-V is in the listing requirements: TSX focuses on senior issuers, and TSX-V focuses on early-stage companies looking to access growth capital.

Key data about TSX

The Toronto Stock Exchange operates primarily in Canadian dollars (CAD), and trading hours are typically Monday to Friday, from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern Time.

However, it is essential to verify specific holiday schedules and trading hours, as they may be subject to change.

Both TSX and TSX-V trade on the TSX Quantum XA platform, a world-class exchange platform. For more information, see the TMX Quantum XA page.

For listings of TSX and TSX-V market participant organizations, see the Member Firm Directory page.

Historical Performance

The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) has a long history, tracing back to 1861. It is Canada’s largest stock exchange and one of the world’s leading exchanges in terms of listed companies.

Over the years, the TSX has demonstrated resilience and stability, attracting both domestic and international investors. Its historical performance has seen fluctuations influenced by global economic factors, market trends, and industry-specific dynamics.

However, it is important to conduct further research and analysis to obtain specific historical performance data.

Market Access

The TSX provides access to various markets, including equities, derivatives, fixed income, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). It allows investors to trade a wide range of securities, providing opportunities for diversification and risk management.

The TSX-V, on the other hand, is primarily focused on emerging companies and offers a platform for early-stage companies to raise capital through public listings.

Listing Requirements

Both exchanges have specific listing requirements for companies. The TSX has stricter criteria, including minimum market capitalization, financial stability, and operating history.

The TSX-V has more lenient requirements, making it accessible to companies at an earlier stage of development. These requirements are designed to ensure investor protection and maintain the integrity of the exchanges.

Components of the Stock Exchange

The TSX comprises various sectors and industries, including finance, energy, materials, industrials, technology, healthcare, and consumer discretionary.

The exchange lists large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap companies, providing investors with exposure to different market segments.

Market participants, including brokers and dealers, play a vital role in executing trades and providing liquidity.

Market Movers

Market movers refer to the key factors or events that significantly impact stock prices and market sentiment. In the TSX, market movers can include:

Macroeconomic indicators
Interest rates
Commodity prices (such as oil and gold)
Corporate earnings reports
Mergers and acquisitions
Government policies
Geopolitical developments

Monitoring these factors can help investors make informed decisions.

Order Types Allowed

The TSX allows various order types, including market orders, limit orders, stop orders, and stop-limit orders.

Market orders are executed at the best available price, while limit orders allow investors to specify a maximum or minimum price for execution. Stop orders are triggered when a certain price level is reached, while stop-limit orders combine stop and limit order features.

Note: not all order types are available for every gateway.

Limit Buy/Sell→ShortSell (Day/FOK/IOC)
Limit on Open (LOO) Buy/Sell→ShortSell
Market Buy/Sell→ShortSell (Day/FOK)
Market-on-Close (MOC) & Market-on-Open (MOO) Buy/Sell→ShortSell
Pegged Midpoint/Market/Primary Buy/Sell→ShortSell
Reserve Limit Buy/Sell→ShortSell (Day)

Available ATS (Alternative Trading Systems)

Alternative Trading Systems are electronic trading platforms that operate alongside traditional stock exchanges. The TSX permits the use of ATS to facilitate trading. Examples of ATS in Canada include:

Aequitas NEO
Alpha
Chi-X Canada
CX2
CXC
CSE
Lynx
MATCHNow
OmegaATS
TMX Select

Market Rules

Both exchanges operate within a regulatory framework overseen by the provincial securities commissions in Canada.

The exchanges, along with listed companies, are subject to continuous disclosure requirements, financial reporting standards, and corporate governance regulations.

These regulations aim to ensure transparency, fair trading practices, and investor confidence in the markets.

The TSX has specific market rules governing trading activities. These rules include lot size, tick size, short sale rules, and circuit breaker rules. It is crucial for market participants to understand and comply with these rules to ensure fair and orderly trading.

Lot Size: varies by price, as follows:

Price Range (CAD)	Lot Size
up to 0.10	1,000
0.10 up to 1.00	500
1.00 and up	100

Tick Size: varies by price, as follows:

Price Range (CAD)	Tick Size (CAD)
up to 0.50	0.005
0.50 and up	0.010

Short Sale Rules: short sell orders must be marked. Naked short selling is prohibited except intraday.
Circuit Breakers: for Canadian markets, circuit breakers are tied to movements of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, or the S&P/TSX Composite (when the US markets are closed), as defined in the IIROC Circuit Breakers document.

Auction Mechanism

The TSX employs an auction mechanism to facilitate price discovery and order matching. Pre-market auctions allow orders to be entered and modified before regular trading hours.

Opening auctions determine the opening price, and closing auctions establish the closing price. These auction periods help provide transparency and liquidity to the market. Further details of which can be found in the Order Types and Functionality Guide

Please note, it is advisable to refer to the official websites of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and TSX Venture Exchange (TSX-V) for the most up-to-date and accurate information.

Open

The pre-opening session runs from 07:00 – 09:30 am. During this session, orders can be entered and cancelled but no matching will occur. The Calculated Opening Price (COP) is displayed and continuously updated.

At the open (09:30) all matching orders are executed at a single opening trade price with remaining orders left on the continuous limit order book.

Continuous Trading

TSX and TSX-Venture operate a real-time, continuous auction market that matches individual orders with continual price discovery from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm in the central limit order book (CLOB). This period is referred to as the Regular Session.

All regular order types are accepted during this session. During the regular session, orders are individually displayed in the CLOB. Displayed portions of CLOB orders are given trading priority based on price/broker/time priority.

Broker priority does not apply if either side has marked their order Anonymous or Jitney.

Close

The closing price is defined by the following closing auction mechanism:

Auction means an auction conducted in a trading platform to match the Central Limit Order book with any orders in the closing order book.

a) Market-On-Close (MOC) Market orders shall trade with offsetting MOC Market Orders entered by the same Participating Organization (PO), according to time priority, provided that neither order is an unattributed or jitney order; then
b) MOC Market Orders shall trade with the offsetting MOC Market Orders, according to time priority; then
c) MOC Market Orders shall trade with offsetting limit orders (LOC or disclosed volume of continuous orders) entered by the same PO, according to price/time priority, provided that neither order is an unattributed or jitney order; then
d) MOC Market Orders shall trade with offsetting limit orders (LOC on continuous) according to price/time priority; then
e) Limit orders shall trade with the disclosed volume of offsetting limit orders entered by the same PO, according to price/time priority, provided that neither order is an unattributed or jitney order; then
f) Limit orders shall trade with the offsetting limit orders according to price/time priority.

MOC orders are priced at “market” and will only execute at the MOC calculated closing price. MOC orders are entered into the MOC book between 7:00 am – 3:40 pm and are queued in time priority. MOC orders cannot be cancelled after the imbalance is published at 3:40 pm and may be board lot, mixed lot, or odd lot sized orders with regular settlement terms. MOC orders may be marked short, for jitney purposes, and/or anonymous.

Limit on Close (LOC) orders are limit orders that will only trade at the calculated closing price. LOC orders may be board lot, mixed lot or odd lot sized orders. LOC orders are accepted prior to the imbalance publication on either side of the order book without restrictions on their limit price.

Auction Periods

1. Pre-Imbalance (07:00 – 15:40)

Continuous trading occurs, where bids and offers may be entered, amended, or cancelled
Market-On-Close (MOC) orders may be entered, amended, and cancelled
No imbalance orders will be matched

After the published imbalance (from 3:40 – 4:00 pm), LOC orders are only accepted subject to the following restrictions:

a. the order must be on the opposite side of the imbalance,
b. the order’s volume must not exceed the published imbalance, and
c. must be within PME (Price Movement Extension) % of the last board lot sale price

Between 4:00 pm and 4:10 pm, if a PME extension is necessary due to price volatility, LOC orders are only accepted subject to the following restrictions.

a. the order must be on the opposite side of the imbalance,
b. the order’s volume must not exceed the published imbalance, and
c. must be within CPA % of the last board lot sale price.

2. Post-Imbalance (15:40 – 16:00)

Limit-On-Close (LOC) orders may be entered, amended, or cancelled under the following conditions:
- LOC order must be on the opposite side of the imbalance
- LOC order must not exceed the size of the published imbalance
- LOC order must be within 3%-TSX and 5%-TSX-V of last sale price
LOC bids and offers retain their ranking in price/time priority
Regular limit bid and offers still open and not executed at 16:00 may compete equally with LOC orders. These limit bids/offers are classified as ‘CLOB’ orders. The non-displayed portions of CLOB orders (icebergs) are allocated last relative to other CLOB or LOC orders at the same price. Dark orders do not participate.
No ‘On-Close’ bids or offers will be matched

3. Calculated Closing Price (CCP) (16:00)

Closing auction is conducted
No bids or offers may be entered, amended, or cancelled
Auction imbalance orders are matched and the CCP is calculated
If CCP violates a price parameter of 3%-TSX and 5%-TSX-V against the last sale, a price movement extension occurs which allows for further imbalance orders to be entered

3b. Price Movement Extension (PME) (16:00 – 16:10)

Only limit orders opposing the remaining imbalance may be entered to participate the PME Close

3c. Price Movement Extension Close (16:10)

A second closing auction is conducted to offset remaining imbalance
Bids or offers are matched against the MOC book
No bids or offers may be entered, but may be cancelled

Order Types: traders may enter Market-On-Close orders prior to the 3:40 pm publishing of the imbalance, after which only Limit-On-Close and regular limit orders opposing the imbalance will be accepted to participate in the closing auction.

Omega Fee Changes

Effective Tuesday, December 1, 2020, OMEGA will be eliminating the separate trading fee schedule for ETFs. As a result, the trading fees for all ETF executions will be the same as the current fee schedule for all securities traded, as follows:

			Current Fee		New Fee
Gateway	Liquidity Flags	Description	OverDollar Fee	SubDollar Fee	OverDollar Fee	SubDollar Fee
OMGA	A or N or 1	Add Liquidity on OMGA for ETFs	0.0013	0.0013	0.003	0.001
OMGA	R or Y or 2	Remove Liquidity on OMGA for ETFs	-0.0008	-0.0008	-0.0025	-0.0006

Effective Tuesday, November 10, 2020, the OMEGA Midpoint Peg order type is available again on the Canadian markets. Their gateway fees will be as follows:

Gateway	Liquidity Flags	Description	Overdollar Fee	Subdollar Fee
OMGA	A or N or 1	Add Liquidity on OMGA – Hidden Midpoint Peg	0.0006	0.0002
OMGA	R or Y or 2	Remove Liquidity on OMGA – Hidden Midpoint Peg	0	0

Older Fee Changes

Please be advised that effective Thursday, October 1, 2020,OMEGA changed their fees, as follows.

Gateway	Liquidity Flags	Description	Current Fee	New Fee
OMGA	A or N or 1	Odd Lot Add	0.001	0
OMGA	R or Y or 2	Odd Lot Remove	0.001	0

Gateway	Liquidity Flags	Description	Current Fee	New Fee
OMGA	A or N or 1	Add Liquidity on OMGA above $1	0.0028	0.003
OMGA	R or Y or 2	Remove Liquidity on OMGA above $1	-0.0023	-0.0025
OMGA	A or N or 1	Add Liquidity on OMGA – ETFs	0.0028	0.0013
OMGA	R or Y or 2	Remove Liquidity on OMGA – ETFs	-0.0023	-0.0008

ATS Fee Changes

Dear Manager,

Effective Monday, December 2, 2019, the Lynx ATS has changed their fees, as follows:

			Over Dollar	Sub Dollar
Gateway	Liquidity Flags	Description	Current Fee	New Fee	Current Fee	New Fee
LYNX	A or N or 1	Add Liquidity – ETF symbols	-0.0015	-0.00145	-0.0015	-0.00145
LYNX	R or Y or 2	Remove Liquidity – ETF symbols	0.0017	0.00165	0.0002	0.0004
LYNX	A or N or 1	Add Liquidity – Non-Interlisted symbols	0	-0.00115	0	-0.0002
LYNX	R or Y or 2	Remove Liquidity – Non-Interlisted symbols	0.0002	0.00135	0.0002	0.0004
LYNX	A or N or 1	Add Liquidity – ETF symbols	0	-0.0015	0	-0.0002
LYNX	R or Y or 2	Remove Liquidity – ETF symbols	0.0002	0.0017	0.0002	0.0004

Note: Lynx ATS sends the fees in real time on every execution.

Midpoint Peg Order

Effective Tuesday, November 10, 2020, the LYNX Midpoint Peg order type will be available again on the Canadian markets. Their gateway fees will be as follows:

Gateway	Liquidity Flags	Description	Overdollar Fee	Subdollar Fee
LYNX	A or N or 1	Add Liquidity on LYNX	0	0
LYNX	R or Y or 2	Remove Liquidity on LYNX	0	0

TSX Alpha Fee Change

Please be advised that effective Friday, April 1, 2022, the TSX has changed their fees, the details are as follows:

Gateway	Liquidity Flags	Description	Current Fee	New Fee
TSX	P or N or 1	Add Liquidity under $0.10 on TSX & TSXV	0.000025	0
TSX	P or N or 1	Add Liquidity between $0.10 and & $1 on TSX & TSXV	0.000075	0
TSX	A or Y or 2	Remove Liquidity under $0.10 on TSX & TSXV	0.000025	0.0002
TSX	A or Y or 2	Remove Liquidity between $0.10 and & $1 on TSX & TSXV	0.000075	0.0002
TSX	P or N or 1	Add Liquidity under $ 1 on TSX & TSXV (Odd Lot)	N/A	0.00025
TSX	A or Y or 2	Remove Liquidity under $ 1 on TSX & TSXV (Odd Lot)	N/A	0.00025
TSX (Dark)	P or N	Add Liquidity under $0.10 on TSX & TSXV Dark	0.000025	0
TSX (Dark)	P or N	Add Liquidity between $0.10 and & $1 on TSX & TSXV Dark	0.000075	0
TSX (Dark)	A or Y	Remove Liquidity under $0.10 on TSX & TSXV Dark	0.000025	0.0002
TSX (Dark)	A or Y	Remove Liquidity between $0.10 and & $1 on TSX & TSXV Dark	0.000075	0.0002

Please note that we began to charge these new fees from Monday, April 11, 2022.

Older Changes

Please be advised that effective tomorrow, Wednesday, May 1, 2019, the TSX Alpha Exchange will be changing their fees, as follows:

Gateway	Liquidity Flags	Description	Current Fee	New Fee
ALPHA	P or N or 1	Add Liquidity on ALPH for ETFs	0.0013	0.0004
ALPHA	P or N or 2	Add Liquidity on ALPH for Non-ETFs	0.0014	0.0023
ALPHA	P or N or 2	Add Liquidity under $1 on ALPH	0.0014	0.0004
ALPHA	A or Y or 2	Remove Liquidity on ALPH for ETFs	-0.001	0
ALPHA	A or Y or 3	Remove Liquidity on ALPH for Non-ETFs	-0.001	Unchanged
ALPHA	A or Y or 4	Remove Liquidity under $1 on ALPH	-0.001	-0.0001