The Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc. (TOCOM) as of April 1 revised a number of rules to improve its Off-Floor Trading System. This follows regulatory approval from the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry on March 31.
TOCOM previously had three types of off-floor trading: Block Transactions, EFP/EFS and Posted Settlement Transactions. Effective April 1, some Block Transaction Rules were eliminated, including those related to eligible participants, eligible contract months and minimum trade size. These changes have made block transaction and posted settlement transaction differences negligible, and so they have been combined to create an “Off-Floor Transaction”.
Restrictions on EFP/EFS transactions related to the requested price were also relaxed. And retail investor’s needs are being met by making them eligible to trade EFPs on Gold Daily Futures and Gold Mini Futures.
In addition, “TOCOM Window” was created to facilitate off-floor transactions. It is open to all Members and they can use the platform to exchange information on the transaction they are interested in executing, including contract months, volumes and prices.
For more details on changes to the Off-floor trading system, please refer to the appendix.