SOLA Overview
SOLA, the trading platform developed by MX, is a highly robust and low-latency trading system for multiple financial products such as standardized options and futures. With its exceptional performance and capacity, SOLA ranks among the world's best trading platforms.
SOLA consists of three modules:
- SOLA Trading: Manages MX's SAIL native protocol and the FIX gateway. Market data dissemination is supported by the High Speed Vendor Feed (HSVF).
- SOLA Clearing: Services include Trade Management System (TMS), Automated Trade Report (ATR) and Clearing Gateway.
- SOLA Surveillance
MX derivatives on SOLA
Trading sessions
MX futures and options contracts trade in two sessions:
- Early trading session
- Regular trading session
Not all contracts are available in all sessions. Please consult the contract specifications for each product for its trading schedule.
Product trading hours and phases
Each group of instruments has its own trading schedule. The trading day is marked by different stages, though some products do not have all of these stages.
Orders and duration
Clients can trade an array of order types and durations on the SOLA trading platform. Order types and duration qualifiers vary according to product and each client's trading application.
Price type
- Limit order: Order for which a limit price is specified.
- Market order: Order for execution at the best price available in the market for the total quantity available from any contract bid (offer). Any residual volume, left after part of a market order has been executed, is automatically converted to a limit order at the price at which it was just executed.
- Stop-limit order (only supported on the S&P/TSX 60 Index Mini (SXM) and Standard (SXF) Futures contracts): Order that is meant to limit a participant's loss or to lock in a gain in the market. A participant specifies that if the price of the contract drops (rises) and trades at or below (above) a specified price (the "trigger" price), a limit order to sell (buy) will be created and sent to the market. Note that stop orders that do not specify a triggering limit price will not be accepted by the system. In addition, a participant wishing to change the trigger price of a stop order must cancel the original order and send in a new one.
- Market-on-open order (only supported on the S&P/TSX 60 Index Mini (SXM) and Standard (SXF) Futures contracts): Order for execution at the market opening at the CTO (Calculated Theoretical Opening) price. If a market-on-open order is only partially filled, any residual quantity is automatically converted to a limit order at the price at which the original order was executed. Market-on-open orders have priority over limit orders.
- Iceberg order (hidden quantity): Using this facility provides the flexibility to display sequential pre-determined portions of a single large order. This facility allows for an efficient execution of large size orders without disrupting market's supply and demand.
Duration type
- Day order: Order that must be filled on the day it was sent or it will be cancelled at the close of trading. Unless specified otherwise, an order is always a day order.
- Good 'til date (GTD): Order that will remain valid in the book until a specified date, after which it will be cancelled.
- Good 'til cancelled (GTC): Order that will remain valid in the book until it is cancelled.
- Fill and kill order: Order that will be executed at the specified price. If it is not filled completely, the remaining quantity will be cancelled.
- While connected: Day orders with "While Connected" functionality are automatically withdrawn from the central order book in the event that the participant's server is disconnected from MX.
Order Functionalities
- Committed Order Functionality (COF): The functionality facilitates the execution of prearranged transactions (by one approved participant against another) and cross transactions (by one approved participant against them self) which may be executed with a zero-second time delay between the input of two matching orders, in accordance with the Rules and Procedures of the Bourse.
- User Defined Strategies: The user-defined strategies (UDS) facility allows participants to create customized strategies based on their individual needs.
- Request for Quote (RFQ): The functionality allows the RFQ submitter to request a bid, an offer or a two-sided market on any MX listed instrument. Market participants who elect to respond to the RFQ will do so by placing an order in the central limit order book.
- Basis Trade on Close (BTC): The functionality allows participants to trade the future at a price equivalent to the official close of its underlying cash market plus a predetermined agreed-upon price differential (positive or negative) known as "the basis".
