The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) plans to introduce intraday trading within four months after the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) approved the move, allowing investors to buy and sell the same security within a single trading session to improve market liquidity, trading depth and efficiency.
DSE Managing Director Nuzhat Anwar told TIMES of Bangladesh that the bourse needs to upgrade its trading system, ensure broker readiness and conduct investor awareness programmes before launching the facility.
“It will take around four months,” she said.
Initially, DSE will introduce intraday trading for blue-chip stocks. After analysing market response and operational performance, the facility may be expanded to more securities, she added.
Intraday trading, also known as same-scrip netting, allows investors to purchase and sell the same stock within the same trading day.
An investor can sell a stock seconds, minutes or hours after buying it, depending on market conditions and availability of buyers and sellers, without carrying the position overnight.
The facility gives investors greater flexibility to respond quickly to price movements and market developments. It can also reduce transaction costs as same-day buy and sell transactions do not require delivery through the depository system, eliminating related charges.
For the market, intraday trading is expected to increase turnover, improve liquidity and deepen participation by attracting more active investors.
Greater liquidity can support better price discovery, narrow bid-ask spreads and make the market more attractive to institutional and foreign investors.
The move follows a long-standing demand from market participants for more flexible trading arrangements.
“From the market, we have long been asking the regulator for the move and the new leadership at BSEC showed their dynamism,” said DSE Director Minhaz Mannan Emon.
The facility will improve both market liquidity and depth, which are essential for building a stronger capital market capable of attracting large-scale domestic investors and foreign funds, he added.
Intraday trading was previously available at the Chattogram Stock Exchange (CSE) more than two decades ago before the regulator restricted the practice.
CSE Managing Director M Shaifur Rahman Mazumder said the port city bourse was technically prepared to introduce intraday trading as its trading system had earlier been designed to support such transactions.
“CSE as a bourse is ready to start intraday trading in two weeks as its trading system was previously designed for intraday,” he said.
However, brokers may require some upgrades before implementation. CSE will launch the facility after consultations with the regulator, he added.
While DSE plans an initial rollout for blue-chip stocks, CSE supports introducing intraday trading for all eligible securities.
Short selling—selling borrowed securities to buy back at lower prices- is still prohibited in Bangladesh.
“At DSE-CSE you have to buy first until short-selling becomes a product” said Shaifur Rahman Mazumder.
Commodity exchange still stuck
Meanwhile, preparations for Bangladesh’s first commodities exchange are progressing, with CSE waiting for approval of broker licences from the securities regulator, after building its platform.
Mazumder said seven applications for commodity broker licences are currently pending with BSEC.
Once licences are issued, brokers will require a few months to complete their preparations.
The commodities exchange will initially introduce trading in gold, silver and crude palm oil.
The first phase will involve non-delivery cash settlement contracts, meaning no physical commodities will be handled or delivered. Instead, the platform will provide investors opportunities for commodity trading and hedging against price risks.
Cotton, wheat and rice will gradually be added to the trading platform. Physical delivery-based contracts will be introduced after establishing professional warehousing facilities, Mazumder said.
BSEC Chairman Masud Khan recently said the commission was also considering shortening the share settlement cycle by one day as part of broader reforms to improve market efficiency.
However, some stockbrokers said the banking and capital market ecosystems need further preparation before intraday trading is introduced.
