The Osaka Stock Exchange (OSE) is introducing a fee discount for trading participants for the JPX-Nikkei 400 Futures from September to December of 2015. The discount is being initiated to promote the product towards retail investors. According to the OSE, they are waving trading fees of ¥7 per contract, with traders only being required to pay a ¥2 per contract clearing fee.
Explaining the decision to Finance Magnates, the OSE commented that currently retail investors only account for 1% of the total trades for the Nikkei 400 Futures, which is much lower than for the other futures listed in the OSE, such as the Nikkei 225 Mini. With the promotion, the OSE hopes to increase more adoption of the JPX-Nikkei 400 product, but stated to Finance Magnates that they are unsure how much volume will be gained by this event.
Source: Osaka Stock Exchange
Trading of the Nikkei 400 Futures was launched in November of 2014. Since launching, except on expiry days of the product, trading volume of the Nikkei 400 Futures have been below 50,000 contracts on a weekly basis. In comparison, Nikkei 225 Futures are around 100,000, with Nikkei 225 Mini Futures trading about 900,000 contracts on a daily basis.
The underlying Nikkei 400 index is a relatively newcomer, having only been launched in the summer of 2013. But, it has attracted interest within the general Japanese public as the index tracks shareholder friendly companies, including firms known for having strong corporate governance and omitting those that don’t. As a result, the annual reshuffling of the index can lead to scrutiny for large firms left out of the index.
