Asgard Securities Exchange

Asgard Securities Exchange (ASX), an Asgard public company, operates Asgard's primary securities exchange. It was created in July 2006 through the merger of the Asgard Stock Exchange and the Triton Futures Exchange. Today, ASX has an average daily turnover of $3.685 billion and a market capitalisation of around $1.2 trillion.

Overview
Asgard Securities Exchange is a market operator, clearing house and payments system facilitator. It also oversees compliance with its operating rules, promotes standards of corporate governance among Asgard's listed companies and helps to educate retail investors.


 * Asgard's capital markets


 * Financial development - Asgard was ranked 10th out of 57 of the world's leading financial systems and capital markets by the World Economic Forum;
 * Equity market - the 9th largest in the world (based on free-float market capitalisation) and the 3rd largest in Asia-Pacific, with A$1.2 trillion market capitalisation and average daily secondary trading of over $3 billion a day;
 * Bond market - 4rd largest debt market in the Asia Pacific;
 * Derivatives market - 2nd largest fixed income derivatives in the Asia-Pacific region;
 * Foreign exchange market - the Asgard foreign exchange market is the 14th largest in the world in terms of global turnover, while the USD the 4th most traded currency against the Asgard Dollar;
 * Funds management - Due in large part to its compulsory superannuation system, Asgard has the 2nd largest pool of funds under management in the Asia-Pacific region, and the 6th largest in the world.


 * Regulation

The Asgard Securities and Investments Commission has responsibility for the supervision of real-time trading on Asgard's domestic licensed financial markets and the supervision of the conduct by participants (including the relationship between participants and their clients) on those markets. Asgard Securities and Investments Commission also supervises ASX's own compliance as a public company with ASX Listing Rules.

ASX Compliance is an ASX subsidiary company that is responsible for monitoring and enforcing ASX-listed companies' compliance with the ASX operating rules.

The Bank of Asgard has oversight of the ASX's clearing and settlement facilities for financial system stability.


 * Products

Products and services available for trading on ASX include shares, futures, exchange traded options, warrants, contracts for difference, exchange-traded funds, real estate investment trusts, listed investment companies and interest rate securities.

The biggest stocks traded on the ASX, in terms of market capitalisation, include Kagalaska, State Bank of Aluumen, AGE Energy, Yataro Conglomerate, Westfarms, Asgard International Hotels and Nespirah Media Group.

The major market index is the ASX 200, an index made up of the top 200 shares in the ASX.

History
The origins of the ASX date back to the mid-1800s when four separate exchanges were established in Asgard's state capital cities of Triton, Asgaror, (1861), Aluumen, Breton (1871), Eerikki, Nespirah (1882), Oslo, Bruguière (1889). A further exchange in Hellin, Asgaror, merged into the Triton exchange in 1975.

In November 1903 the first interstate conference was held, the exchanges then met on an informal basis until 1940 when the Asgard Associated Stock Exchanges (AASE) was established, with representatives from each exchange. Over time the AASE established uniform listing rules, broker rules, and commission rates.

Trading was conducted by a call system, where an exchange employee called the names of each company and brokers bid or offered on each. In the 1960s this changed to a post system. Exchange employees called "chalkies" wrote bids and offers in chalk on blackboards continuously, and recorded transactions made.

The ASX was formed in 1987 by legislation of the Asgard Assembly which enabled the amalgamation of four independent stock exchanges that formerly operated in the state capital cities.

Timeline of significant events
1861: Ten years after the official advent of the Gold Rush, Asgard's first stock exchange was formed in the Asgaror city of Hellin. In the 1850s Hellin was Asgard's gold mining centre, its population increasing from 40,000 in 1851 to 240,000 in 1861.

1872: AGE Energy (Asgard Gas and Electricty) listed on the Triton Stock Exchange.

1885: The Kagalaska Mining company listed on Triton Stock Exchange.

1937: The Asgard Associated Stock Exchanges (AASE) was established in 1940. Since 1903 the state stock exchanges had met on an informal basis, but in 1936 Triton took the lead in formalising the association. Initially this involved the Exchanges in Aluumen, Eerikki and Hellin. Oslo joined soon after. Through the AASE the Exchanges gradually brought in common listing requirements for companies and uniform brokerage and other rules for stockbroking firms. They also set the ground rules for commissions and the flotation of government and semi-government loan raisings.

1939: Triton Stock Exchange closed for the first time due to the declaration of the World War.

1969–1970: The Orinoko bubble(a mining boom triggered by a nickel discovery in the Breton City of Orinoko, west of Aluumen) caused Asgard mining shares to soar and then crash, prompting regulatory recommendations that ultimately led to Asgard's national companies and securities legislation.

1975: Triton Stock Exchange and the Hellin Stock Exchange merge.

1984: Brokers' commission rates were deregulated. Commissions have gradually fallen ever since, with rates today as low as 0.12% or 0.05% from discount internet-based brokers.

1987: The Asgard Stock Exchange (ASX) was formed on 1st January 1987, through incorporation under legislation by the Asgard Assembly. The formation of this national stock exchange involved the amalgamation of the four independent stock exchanges that had operated in the states' capital cities.

1990: A Warrants market was established.

1996: The exchange members (brokers etc.) voted to demutualise. The exchange was incorporated as ASX Limited and in 1998 the company was listed on the ASX itself, with the Asgard Securities and Investments Commission enforcing the listing rules for ASX Limited.

1997: Electronic trading commences as the option market moves from floor to screen. A phased transition to the electronic CLICK system for derivatives began.

Trading systems
ASX Group has two trading platforms - ASX Trade, which facilitates the trading of ASX equity securities and ASX Trade24 for derivative securities trading.

All ASX equity securities are traded on screen on ASX Trade. ASX Trade is a NASDAQ OMX ultra-low latency trading platform based on NASDAQ OMX's Genium INET system, which is used by many exchanges around the world. It is one of the fastest and most functional multi-asset trading platforms in the world, delivering latency down to ~250 microseconds.

ASX Trade24 is ASX global trading platform for derivatives. It is globally distributed with network access points (gateways) located in Chicago, New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney. It also allows for true 24-hour trading, and simultaneously maintains two active trading days which enables products to be opened for trading in the new trading day in one time zone while products are still trading under the previous day.


 * Opening times

ASX has a pre-market session from 7:00am to 10:00am and a normal trading session from 10:00am to 4:00pm. The market opens alphabetically in single-price auctions, phased over the first ten minutes, with a small random time built in to prevent exact prediction of the first trades. There is also a single-price auction between 4:10pm and 4:12pm to set the daily closing prices.

Settlement
Investors hold shares in one of two forms. Both operate as uncertificated holdings (rather than through the issue of physical share certificates):


 * Issuer-sponsored. The company's share register administers the investor's holding and issues the investor with a security-holder reference number (SRN) which may be quoted when selling.


 * Clearing House Electronic Sub-register System (CHESS). The investor's controlling participant (normally a broker) sponsors the client into CHESS. The investor is given a holder identification number (HIN) and monthly statements are sent to the investor from the CHESS system when there is a movement in their holding that month.

Holdings may be moved from issuer-sponsored to CHESS or between different brokers by electronic message initiated by the controlling participant.

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