FAQ — IPO Subscription

We support two subscription types:

The subscription is funded from the available HKD cash in your account. Only HKD cash is currently counted. Stock holdings, cash in other currencies and Digital Assets are not counted, even if held in the same account, so convert them to HKD before you subscribe. We decide which assets are counted and may change this at any time. The amount deducted is the subscription amount plus all applicable fees and charges.

Only withdrawable balances count. Funds already committed elsewhere, for example to a pending withdrawal, an unsettled purchase or another IPO subscription, are not available.

If you do not have enough available HKD cash for the subscription you are placing, the subscription is rejected and no application is made. We are not obliged to accept a smaller subscription, to warn you first, or to give a reason. Please make sure your available HKD cash covers the full amount, including fees, before the cut-off time.

Once we accept your subscription request, the subscription amount is locked in real time. Locked funds cannot be withdrawn, transferred or used for anything else, and do not count towards your buying power. They are deducted on the deduction date, which is the subscription cut-off date for that IPO unless we notify or display a different date, and is shown on the subscription page.

You can request an amendment or cancellation up to the cut-off time for the relevant IPO. We must actually receive the request before the cut-off time and accept it. After the cut-off time the subscription cannot be amended, cancelled or withdrawn.

Path: App > Market > IPOs > Orders.

Please check the cut-off time on the subscription page. Cut-off times are set by us, are often earlier than the closing date or time announced by the issuer or the exchange, and can change.

Yes. The maximum financing ratio is 90% of the subscription amount, so at least 10% must come from your own funds, being available HKD cash in your account. So at the maximum financing ratio, HKD 10,000 of available HKD cash supports a subscription of up to HKD 100,000, of which HKD 90,000 is Broker Financing. If you do not have enough available HKD cash for the subscription you are placing, the subscription is rejected.

If you are short of HKD, deposit HKD or convert other currencies or Digital Assets in your account into HKD before the cut-off time. Stock holdings, cash in other currencies and Digital Assets are not counted towards your IPO Buying Power.

Lower financing ratios are also available. The lower the financing ratio you choose, the more of your own funds you need for the same subscription amount.

Financing ratios, quotas and availability are set by us, vary from IPO to IPO, and can change. Some IPOs do not support Broker Financing (Margin) Subscription at all. The terms shown on the subscription page for each IPO apply.

Once we accept your subscription request, your own contribution is locked in real time and is deducted on the deduction date for the relevant IPO.

The financing amount is recorded when you submit the subscription, and is drawn on the deduction date, when the subscription amount is paid.

Daily Broker Financing Interest = Broker Financing amount × Broker Financing Interest Rate ÷ 365

Interest accrues on a calendar-day basis from (and including) the debit date up to the day before the allotment date (i.e., the day before the announcement of allotment results), and will be deducted on the allotment result announcement date, unless otherwise notified or specified by this brokerage. The timing of your subscription submission has no effect — interest is calculated from the debit date in all cases.

The Broker Financing Interest Rate is shown in “Portfolio – My Rate”. Any interest figure shown to you before you subscribe is an estimate only, based on assumptions about the amount and duration of the financing. The actual amount is calculated on the amount outstanding each day and may be higher. Your statement prevails.

On the date the financing falls due for repayment. Where you are allotted shares, that is the allotment date. Where your subscription is unsuccessful, it is the refund date set out in the prospectus for that IPO, which is usually later.

You can reduce or repay Broker Financing at any time before it falls due for repayment, by depositing HKD, or by converting other currencies or Digital Assets in your account into HKD.

Interest accrued up to the date of repayment is still payable, and fees and charges already incurred are not refunded.

Any financing still outstanding falls due on the allotment date to the extent you are allotted shares, and on the prospectus refund date to the extent your subscription is unsuccessful. If your account balance is sufficient at that point, no further financing arises.

No. Several financing ratios are usually available for an IPO, and you can choose the one that suits your position. A higher financing ratio means more interest.

If the margin in your account is not sufficient once the allotted shares are credited, we may issue a margin call. You should top up your margin by the time stated in the margin call, and in any event before the allotted shares start trading.

We are not obliged to notify you before we act. If the margin or other assets in your account are insufficient, we may sell or otherwise dispose of the allotted shares and any other assets in your account without notice to you and without your consent, including on the first day the shares trade, and apply the proceeds against what you owe. You remain liable for any shortfall.

The same as a Cash Subscription. You can request an amendment or cancellation up to the cut-off time for the relevant IPO. We must actually receive the request before the cut-off time and accept it. After the cut-off time the subscription cannot be amended, cancelled or withdrawn.

Path: App > Market > IPOs > Orders.

Please check the cut-off time on the subscription page. Cut-off times are set by us, are often earlier than the closing date or time announced by the issuer or the exchange, and can change.

No. Subscribing for more does not mean you will be allotted more, and a subscription does not entitle you to receive any shares at all.

All subscriptions for an IPO are submitted together as a single combined application. The result comes back as one aggregate figure for that combined application, not as a separate result for each client.

Whether you receive any shares, and how many, is decided by us at our sole discretion, applying our own internal allocation rules. We are not obliged to allocate on a pro-rata, balloting, first-come-first-served or any other particular basis, and you have no priority over us or over any other client. You may receive no shares even though the combined application was successful, and the number you receive may differ from the number you subscribed for. Our determination is final, and we are not obliged to disclose our allocation rules.

Through the app. Watch for the app notification and check your subscription records. Results are usually available by the afternoon of the trading day before listing, but the timing is set by the issuer and the terms of the relevant offer, and varies from IPO to IPO.

Please do not rely on HKEXnews or any other public allotment enquiry service to work out your own result. Because subscriptions are submitted as a single combined application, any result published there is the result for the combined application, not your individual allocation. Your allocation is the figure we notify to you.

The allotment date is set by the issuer and the terms of the relevant offer, and varies from IPO to IPO. Where money is refunded, it is refunded on the refund date set out in the prospectus for that IPO, which is usually after the allotment date. Fees, charges and interest already incurred are not refunded, whether or not you receive any shares, and even if the listing is delayed or cancelled.

Yes, in two situations: if you still owe us anything in connection with the subscription or the financing, and if the margin in your account is insufficient. In either case we may sell or otherwise dispose of the allotted shares without notice to you and without your consent, at the price and in the manner we think fit, and apply the proceeds against what you owe. This can happen on the first day the shares trade. You remain liable for any shortfall.

From the pre-IPO trading session on the trading day before listing, and on the exchange from the listing day onwards. Pre-IPO trading is a separate over-the-counter service with its own rules and risks.

If Broker Financing on the subscription is still outstanding, you can sell, but the proceeds go towards what you owe us before any balance is released, and we may restrict your dealing at any time.

Pre-IPO trading, also called grey market trading, lets you buy or sell shares allotted in an IPO before they are officially listed on the exchange.

It does not take place on the exchange. It is an over-the-counter market. Until the shares are officially listed it is not regulated by the exchange and is not covered by any investor compensation fund.

Only during the pre-IPO trading session, and only on the trading day immediately before the shares are officially listed. The session currently runs from 4:15 pm to 6:30 pm. We may change the session hours and will announce the hours that apply.

There is no pre-IPO trading outside that session.

No. You can buy in the pre-IPO session even if you were not allotted any shares, and you can sell shares you were allotted.

If you sell, the shares you deliver must be fully paid and yours to sell, and free of any charge or other encumbrance apart from our own security over shares allotted on a financed subscription, which is dealt with next.

You can still sell in the pre-IPO session while Broker Financing on that subscription is outstanding, but the sale proceeds go towards what you owe us first. We apply them against the Broker Financing, interest and any other amount owing on that subscription, and only the balance, if any, is released to you. If what you owe is more than the proceeds, you receive nothing, and you remain liable for the rest.

We may restrict, limit, suspend or prohibit your dealing in allotted shares at any time, without notice and without giving a reason, so you should not assume you will be able to sell.

None of this limits us. We can still sell your allotted shares ourselves, including in the pre-IPO session, if you owe us money or your margin is short.

No. Pre-listing trading operates on an OTC matching basis, and liquidity may be thin, with the possibility that no matching orders are available. Any order that remains wholly or partially unmatched by the end of the trading session will be cancelled and will not carry over to the listing date.

Pre-listing trading is conducted over-the-counter (OTC), meaning your counterparty is another client rather than an exchange or clearing house. As a result, you bear the settlement (counterparty) risk associated with your trading counterparty. Settlement of any matched trade is not guaranteed. You shall be solely responsible for any losses or expenses arising from a counterparty's failure to settle.

Yes. We may change the session hours, limit or suspend pre-IPO trading on any day, set limits on orders, refuse to accept or process an order, and limit, vary, suspend or terminate the service. We may do any of this at any time, without notice to you and without liability. If our system is disrupted we will notify you as soon as practicable by system message, and we may cancel orders, including matched orders.

There is no necessary relationship between them. The pre-IPO price can differ materially from the opening price and from prices once regular trading begins. Prices on our system may also differ from prices on another operator system running at the same time. Pre-IPO prices can be volatile, and there is no assurance that you will be able to sell at all or at a price you find acceptable.

No, you need to choose one. For most IPOs you may only submit one subscription. Submitting more than one may cause all of them, and the combined application they form part of, to be rejected.

Funds can be used once the deposit has been confirmed and credited to your account. Digital Asset deposits are available once credited, and once any necessary conversion is complete.

If your account has a debit balance, deposits are applied against that balance first. Only available HKD cash counts towards your IPO Buying Power, so a deposit in another currency or in Digital Assets must be converted to HKD before you subscribe.

You can place a subscription on the same day you sell, but sale proceeds count towards your IPO Buying Power only once they have settled and are available as HKD cash. Settlement cycles differ between markets and can change. If the proceeds have not settled by the time you submit, they do not count, and your subscription may be rejected for insufficient available HKD cash.

No. Subscription fees are payable whatever the allotment result and are deducted on the deduction date. The subscription fee for each IPO is shown on the subscription page. Subscription fees are not refunded if you receive no shares, or if the listing is postponed or cancelled. The same applies to Broker Financing Interest and to any other charge already incurred.

If you are allotted shares, a total of 1.0085% of the allotted amount is charged, made up of:

These are the current rates for Hong Kong listings. Fees for other markets differ and are shown on the subscription page. Fees are charged in accordance with our published fee schedule, which we may revise, and the exchange and regulatory levies are set by the relevant authorities and can change.