| Trading Services |
| TADAWUL | ![]() |
TADAWUL is the new service for the trading, clearing and settlement of shares in Saudi Arabia.
It provides a continuous, order driven market, with up to the minute price, volume and company information dissemination. It concentrates all local equity trading into one single market.
It provides an efficient and short trading cycle. Transfer of ownership occurs immediately after matching of buy and sell orders. Should trading strategies dictate, investors may buy and sell multiple times during the day.
It provides accurate and speedy settlement. 100% of all trades settle on the day of execution.
It supports Straight-Through Processing. Buy and sell orders are processed from order entry to transfer of ownership, thus providing support for order delivery mechanisms such as the Internet.
| Hit Order | ![]() |
| Take Order | ![]() |
| Match Order | ![]() |
| Market Order | ![]() |
| Limit Order | ![]() |
| Unpriced Order | ![]() |
| Undisclosed volume | ![]() |
| All or None | ![]() |
| Minimum Block | ![]() |
| Minimum Fill | ![]() |
| TADAWUL | ![]() |
TADAWUL provides for flexibility. Orders may exist in the market for one day (good-till-day), for the current week (good-till-week), for the current month (good-till-month) or up to 30 days (good-till-date). Investors may also use Fill or Kill orders, this order must be filled in its entirety, or partially, as soon as it enters the market. If an immediate trade is not possible, the order is automatically killed (cancelled).
It provides for a transparent market as market prices and announcements are instantaneously published to the banks, third party vendors and to the investors. Issuers may enter announcements and financial information directly over the Internet. This is speedily published on the Tadawul web site.
It ensures fairness by providing equal access to the market for all market participants, in addition to maintaining trade execution priorities. Electronic order routing from bank branches also ensures geographic equality of service.
| The Trading Cycle | ![]() |
Step 1
Buying and selling investors submit orders via the bank where their accounts are maintained. This may be achieved by directly visiting the bank or through delivery channels such as the Internet. These orders represent the agreement between the bank and the investor to execute a specific business transaction. Tadawul automatically validates availability of the shares and investor details.
Step 2
Orders are entered into the bank’s Order Management System (OMS) providing banks with an effective way of managing and tracking investor orders. In accordance with market conditions and the requirement of the investor, the orders within the bank’s OMS are forwarded to Tadawul via a high-speed network.
Step 3
Tadawul attempts to match orders according to price, and then time priority. A variety of order types and special terms are available to the investor. Unmatched orders are maintained in Tadawul until either they match, are taken out of the market or expire.
Step 4
From matched orders, trades are generated and reported electronically to the Central Securities Depository.
Step 5
A trade results in the immediate transfer of shares from the account of the seller to the account of the buyer. All trading is conducted in the dematerialized form. Cash transfer is achieved via the national real-time gross settlement system, SARIE.