What are pre-listing orders for IPOs?

An IPO is when a company first lists its shares on a stock exchange. We separate the IPO process into four phases:

• Announced: The IPO is public but no price information is available. You can find the company in the app, but you cannot place an order.
• Upcoming: An indicative price range is published, usually 1-2 weeks before the listing. You can place pre-listing orders.
• Priced: The official offering price for institutional investors is set, usually the day before trading begins. You can still place pre-listing orders.
• Live: Retail trading starts on the exchange. Pre-listing orders are sent for execution.

You can find upcoming IPOs in the app by searching for them or checking our Upcoming IPO list. Once the IPO has an indicative price range, you will see the buy button and can place an order. Before placing your first order, you need to read and accept the specific risks associated to pre-listing orders.

Before trading starts, we display the indicative IPO price range and the official offering price of the IPO. These are shown as pre-listing references only.

• Indicative price range: A preliminary price band published to evaluate investor demand. It's non-binding and can be revised up or down before pricing.
• Official offering price: The single fixed price at which shares are sold to institutional investors the night before trading begins.

Once the stock begins trading on the exchange, the market price is set by supply and demand. This is when your order will be executed.

While the IPO is in the Upcoming or Priced phase, your order remains pending - it can not be executed as the stock is not yet trading on the market.

Once the stock is listed, the exchange collects buy and sell orders to find the fair opening price - the opening auction. During this phase, the exchange publishes estimated opening prices as new orders come in. No orders can be executed yet.

This auction can last from a few minutes to several hours, depending on demand. Your pre-listing order is only executed in line with market conditions and available liquidity when the auction closes and public trading starts. 

IPOs are stocks that are traded in the public market for the first time. This comes with specific risks:

• Price uncertainty: The execution price may differ drastically from the indicative price range or official offering price shown beforehand.
• High volatility: Newly listed stocks can experience sharp price swings and price gaps in the first hours of trading. Your order may fill at a price far from what you anticipated. For CFDs, this can trigger margin calls or stop-outs quickly.
• Wider spreads: The gap between buy and sell price may be larger than usual due to limited liquidity when trading starts.
• No guaranteed execution: There is no guarantee if or at what price your order will fill. Low liquidity at market open can delay execution even after trading has begun.
• IPO changes: Listing dates and offering prices may be changed. Monitor your order during each stage. If the IPO is cancelled, we will cancel your order automatically.
• Limited information: Pre-IPO companies may have less publicly available data than established listed companies, which can make it harder to assess fair value.

With pre-listing orders you can place the following orders before the stock is listed:

• Market value order: You choose the total amount you want to invest. We estimate the share quantity based on the current IPO reference price but the final quantity depends on the actual market price at execution.
• Limit order: You choose the quantity of shares and the maximum price you're willing to pay per share. The order only fills if the market price reaches your limit.

Stop orders, stop-limit orders, AutoInvest and Pie orders are only available after the IPO has started trading.

We reserve the funds needed for execution at the moment you place the order, just as we do for regular pending orders. Reserved cash isn't available for other trades but is still in your account and will earn interest if you have enabled the interest on cash feature.

If you cancel the order, the cash is released immediately. If the order is filled, the cash is used to buy the shares.

Yes. You can cancel a pre-listing order at any time before it executes. Cancellation works the same way as for any regular pending order. We cancel your order automatically if the IPO is cancelled or your available funds fall below the required amount.

If the IPO is officially cancelled, we will automatically cancel your order and unblock the reserved funds.

If the IPO is postponed, your order remains active. You can see the expected IPO date on the instrument page and cancel the order manually if you no longer want it. 

When your order expires depends on your selection in the order screen.

• End of day: Orders are valid until the end of the first trading day after the IPO goes live.
• Never: Orders stay active until you cancel them.

With pre-listing orders the following order types are available for CFDs:

• Buy Limit order: You set the maximum price you're willing to pay. The order opens a long position if the market price falls to or below your limit.
• Buy Stop order: You set a trigger price above the current reference. The order opens a long position if the market price reaches your trigger.
• Sell Limit order: You set the minimum price. The order opens a short position if the market price rises to or above your limit.
• Sell Stop order: You set a trigger price below the current reference. The order opens a short position if the market price falls to your trigger.
• Take-Profit, Stop-Loss, Trailing-Stop: You can attach these to your pre-listing order. They only become active once the position is opened. If the opening order is cancelled, they are cancelled automatically. 

Market orders are only available after the IPO has started trading. 

For each pre-listing order, you can see estimates of the order value, margin, and overnight interest. These are calculated based on the limit or stop price you entered, converted to your account currency at the live exchange rate. This is the same as for regular pending orders placed outside of market hours. 

Yes. You can change or cancel your order at any time before it executes. The process is identical to regular pending orders. If you modify the order, we re-check it against the latest IPO reference price.

We cancel your order automatically if:

• The IPO itself is cancelled
• Your margin is insufficient for execution once continuous trading has started and your limit or stop is reached

The initial margin is estimated based on your limit or stop price and the instrument's leverage. This works the same way as for a regular pending order. You can see the margin estimate in the order details.

Once continuous trading starts and the stop or limit is reached, we perform a margin pre-check. If the margin is sufficient we execute the order and the margin is reserved. If your margin is insufficient at this time, your order is cancelled.