Just before the Holy Week holiday, we went to the Tektite Tower in Ortigas to have a tour of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE).
It surely was exciting to actually visit one of the country’s stock trading floors but, at the same time, disappointing because we did not see a lot of “action.”
Our gracious guide explained that most trades are now conducted online, which means traders don’t anymore have to shout orders on the floor. Traders merely input an order on their terminals and then just wait for it to be processed.
We also asked why there seemed to be a lot of unoccupied brokers’ tables on the floor. Apparently, those used to be for trading companies that already closed down or for companies who have their own terminals in the office, which means they don’t have to be in the PSE trading floor anymore.
PSE History
Our guide also walked us through the history of the Philippine Stock Exchange. Did you know that the PSE was actually a result of the merger of the Manila Stock Exchange and the Makati Stock Exchange back in the ’90s?
The Tektite office houses what used to be the Manila Stock Exchange and Tower One in Ayala houses the Makati Stock Exchange. The Makati trading floor is much bigger and has twice more licensed brokers than the Tektite floor.
Which trading venue do presidents like Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo visit to ring the bell to signal the start of trading?
The answer: the Makati exchange, because it has stricter security than the one in Tektite.
PSE Stock trading rules
We also got learn more about stock trading rules and conventions in the Philippines.
Are you aware that publicly-listed companies are required to disclose to the PSE any material event or issue within 10 minutes of occurrence? If the CEO of your listed firm dies, for instance, you call the PSE first before the spouse! Otherwise, the company will be fined or might even be delisted.
All in all, the PSE tour was good because we got to see things we only discuss in classrooms. But the best part for me was to actually see the price of one of my stocks increase by 7% right there on the board at the center of the trading floor! That alone was definitely rewarding.
If you are trading stocks, try to visit the PSE sometime!
That’s cool! Is that a free tour? Can anyone do that or is it a special arrangement basis only?
Yup, it’s free. You just need to contact the Market Education team of the PSE then set a tour schedule with them.
cool dyan ah.. parang nasa movie.. 🙂
Hindi nga masyado e kasi walang mga sumisigaw saka walang masyadong action. Ok na rin kasi at least nakapunta na ako sa actual stock trading floor sa Pinas 🙂
Wow…astig…
Yeah, you wont see any “action” because trading is completely scriptless. My boss before told me that they had people on the trading flor and boardsmen that actually and literally erase the blackboard in which the trades are lined up whenever there is a transaction. There is also a person who will match the bid and ask on the blackboard.
in the NYSE, if you watch bloomberg, its all very hectic as their trading is not completely electronic, they’ve decided to keep parts of it with the human touch of “shouting” and paper flying. But they all carry PDAs, tablet PCs, etc.
The trading floor of the Philippine Stock Exchange is very different the trading floor at Wall Street in New York City, USA. In Wall Street, traders shout and throws paper everywhere. Imagine the hours the cleaner have to put in at the end of the day to clean the whole floor. Philippine Stock Exchange looks like the trading floor in Hong Kong.
Hehe. Might attend the tour someday. Seems interesting hehe. Para mawala na isip ko yung image from movies na sigawan hehe.
..hey, thats cool dude, actualy our instructor in finance would like us to visit the pse, could you help us to get a schedule for the visitation…actualy our professor instructed me to gather up some information about our trip thats why im browsing right now and thank God i found ur blog..by the way im from lucena city…truly any information would you give can be really helpful and highly appreciated…you can reach me out @ my e-mail account ashiko_0826@yahoo.com or by my cell no. 09095800822…thank you again..God Bless..
@Bryan, contact the PSE and they will tell you what you need to do for you to be able to visit the PSE trading floor. Their contact number is (02) 688-7600.
..ahm, thank you for that information looking forward that we too can able to visit the pse, so how long did you have the tour in pse? and is there any limitation as to number of delegates?
nice info..it gives more knowledge for my research on how to become a stock investor..
I really appreciate your post and you explain each and every point very well.Thanks for sharing this information.And I’ll love to read your next post too.
Share Tips
I can see that you are putting a lot of time and effort into your chart and analysis blog.I love every single piece of information you post here.great call on this stock..
Stock Tips
Practically all this discussion on Siri amazes me. How can anybody rightly refer to a fairly uncomplicated voice recognition software program as artificial intelligence?
Hello, how to tour the PSE? Do I book for an appointment or anything like that?