.jpg)
TASE, in collaboration with the Israel Securities Authority, is pleased to announce the kick-off of the new market making program. This significant initiative, backed by a multi-million shekel investment over two years, is strategically designed to strengthen the Israeli capital market and enhance the liquidity of the shares of the local TASE-listed companies.
The new market making program institutes an effective and improved framework that directly addresses the evolving needs of the market, underscoring TASE’s strategic commitment to enhancing the liquidity at TASE.
The new program is poised to deliver significant improvements across key parameters in both equity and bond market making, encompassing numerous benefits, including fostering increased competition among market makers, narrowing price spreads, mitigating sharp price fluctuations, and enhancing overall liquidity. These improvements will ultimately allow investors to enter and exit positions with greater ease. The program will also facilitate more accurate valuation based on liquid security prices that better reflects the value of listed companies, consequently increasing the activity of foreign investors in the market.
Key improvements delivered by the new market-making program -
The number of market makers will be increased from 3 to 5 (of which 3 will be new market makers in shares), fostering greater competition among the market makers and enhancing market depth.
For the first time, all the shares included in the TA-90 index will have dedicated market makers. The program also features a significant improvement in quoting obligations, with the minimum quote size increasing by over 300% from NIS 6,000 to NIS 25,000, and the quoting spreads reduced by over 80%, from 3% to just 0.5%. These moves are set to significantly enhance liquidity, this being due both to the substantial market cap of the shares included in the TA-90 index and to the index-tracking products’ notable interest in this index. It should be noted that, at the beginning of September 2024, TASE relaunched the futures market, including the futures on the TA-90 index, and the combined effect of these two initiatives is set to significantly enhance liquidity.
In the SME-60 index, the quote size surged by over 560%, from NIS 3,000 to NIS 20,000, and the quoting spreads will be reduced by close to 50%, from 5% to 2.57%.
TASE has appointed 5 market makers for the program, including 3 firms that will be acting as market makers in shares for the first time: Bina Investments, Migdal Market Making, Meitav Trade, Meitav Market Making, and Solid Liquidity. The diverse mix of market makers, including a nostro trading firm and ETF market makers, is expected to ensure high-quality market making.
For the first time, select shares will have two concurrent market makers, fostering increased competition among the market makers and boosting the liquidity of the shares.
Upon launch, the program already covers close to 250 securities traded on TASE. The vision is to extend effective market making to every security listed on the TASE, encouraging currently unparticipating companies to join the program in the near future to benefit from its advantages.
The new reform will take effect on May 4, 2025, and the existing market making arrangement will be cancelled on the same date.
