OREANDA-NEWS. To enhance market quality for the benefit of traders, investors, and issuers, Moscow Exchange is changing the methodology for setting tick sizes for stocks.

Under the new methodology, tick sizes will be determined not only by a stock"s price, but also by its liquidity. The new procedure aims to narrow bid-ask spreads and to lower latency to fill market orders, as well as to motivate investors to enter limit orders in the order book. The new approach is intended to enhance market quality and encourage algorithmic trading strategies in a wider range of stocks, thus boosting their liquidity.

The move to new tick sizes will be implemented in two stages, as agreed by the Equity Market Committee.

In the first stage, from 1 October, the tick size will be changed for all but the 10 most liquid stocks and depository receipts in all trading modes with the exception of Equity Repo, Repo with the CCP, and Repo with the Bank of Russia.

In the second stage, from 1 December, the new methodology will cover all stocks, including the most liquid.

The tick size for stocks is expected to be reviewed quarterly from the second quarter of 2015.