The Taiwan 50 Futures is based on the TSEC Taiwan 50 Index jointly developed by TSEC and FTSE International Ltd. (FTSE). The index is designed to represent the performance of the Taiwan stock market. After a stringent screening process, the top 50 stocks by market capitalization are selected to become index constituents. Differing from the all-ordinary TSEC Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX), the selection principle makes Taiwan 50 Index more tradable and better represent industry sectors. Moreover, as the Index effectively mirrors the overall Taiwan stock market while consists of less number of key component stocks, compared with the TAIEX, it's more advantageous and effective to use the Index for asset management by institutional investors. In turn, the Taiwan 50 Futures provides better efficiency for investment and trading strategies across the futures and stock markets.
The addition of the new product to TAIFEX's product line will expand TAIFEX's market scale. As the TSEC Taiwan 50 Index composes mostly stocks of large capitalization and the Taiwan 50 Futures employs medium contract size, both of these characters cater the needs of foreign institutional investors. In the meantime, as the Index is co-developed by the TSEC and FTSE, the renowned international index provider, foreign institutional investors shall be more incline to trade the Futures due to their confidence in the integrity of the underlying Index. The launch of the Taiwan 50 Futures shall also enhance international competitiveness of the TAIFEX in view of the closer correlation of the Index to Taiwan stock market than that of the MSCI Taiwan Index. The final settlement day of the Taiwan 50 Futures is identical to that of the TAIEX Futures, which provides better market mechanism for effective arbitrage.
Following the launch of the Taiwan 50 Futures, the TAIFEX will continue to develop Taiwan 50 Options, interest rate futures, and commodity futures. The mission of the Exchange is to meet the needs of market participants for diversified products, expand the market scale and the market shares of institutional investors so as to establish itself an attractive and globally competitive futures exchange. TSEC Taiwan 50 Index Futures Contract Specifications
| Contract | Description |
| Underlying | TSEC Taiwan 50 Index |
| Abbreviation | Taiwan 50 Futures |
| Ticker Symbol | T5F |
| Trading Hours | 08:45AM-1:45PM Taiwan time Monday through Friday of the regular trading days of the Taiwan Stock Exchange |
| Contract Size | NT$500 x Index |
| Delivery Months | Five delivery months, including spot month, the next calendar month plus next three consecutive quarter months of the March, June, September, and December cycle |
| Daily Settlement Price | The last trading price of the closing session or otherwise determined by the TAIFEX according to the Trading Rules for TSEC Taiwan 50 Index Futures. |
| Daily Price Limit | ±7% of previous day's settlement price |
| Minimum Price Fluctuation | One index point (NT$500) |
| Last Trading Day | The third Wednesday of the delivery month |
| Final Settlement Day | The first business day following the last trading day. |
| Final Settlement Price | The final settlement price of the contract is set based on the index obtained by calculating the volume-weighted average price of the component stocks of the index within the first 15 minutes after the beginning of the trading period of the final settlement day as provided by the Taiwan Stock Exchange. Provided that there is no trade price established in the first 15 minutes, the closing price of the previous trading day or the ex-right reference price of the component stock shall be taken as the trade price. |
| Settlement | Cash settlement |
| Position Limit | otal open position of contracts held at any time is limited as follows: 1. Individuals: 300 contracts. 2. Institutional investors: 1000 contracts. 3. Institutional investors may apply to TAIFEX for an exemption from position limit for hedging purpose. 4. Position of futures dealers is not limited. |
| Margin | The initial and maintenance margin level set by the FCM for its customers shall not be less than those required by the TAIFEX. The margin level will be adjusted and announced by the TAIFEX in accordance with the Criteria and Collecting Methods regarding Clearing Margins. |
