As communicated in a press release on March 12, 2025, Nasdaq Nordic* will introduce the auction trading model for less liquid shares on Nasdaq First North Growth Market Denmark, effective July 2025.

The new model, initially launched for Nasdaq First North Growth Markets in Sweden and Finland in 2024 and which will be introduced in Iceland on April 1, 2025, is designed to target less liquid shares on Nasdaq First North Growth Market to further enhance market integrity and investor protection.

The planned production go-live date is July 17, 2025. The new First North Denmark Auction market segment will be available for testing in INET test (NTF) as of March 17, 2025.

Criteria, procedures and communications

Criteria for allocating share to Auction Trading

The following criteria need to be fulfilled in order to transfer a share into Auction market segment:

1. The spread of the share exceeds 7% in continuous trading for two consecutive quarters. The spread is measured as an average of daily Relative Time Weighted Average Spread (RTWAS) during the quarter; and
2. The share is not subject to a Market Maker Agreement or any liquidity provision activity; and
3. In case of dual listings, both shares exceed the spread criteria.      

If the above criteria are fulfilled, the share and the equity rights and equity warrants related to the share will be automatically transferred to Auction Trading.

An assessment of whether the share still fulfils the criteria is performed by Nasdaq Nordic twice a year: for the first and second quarter of a year (Q1 and Q2) in the beginning of July, and for the third and fourth quarter of a year (Q3 and Q4), in the beginning of January.

Equity rights and equity warrants related to a share are not assessed separately against the spread criteria but follow the underlying share when allocating a market segment.

Based on the assessment, a share and equity rights and equity warrants related to it will be transferred to the Auction Trading market segment for the next two-quarter period.

Criteria to transfer a share from Auction Trading back to continuous trading

A share is transferred to a market segment with continuous trading immediately when the issuer contracts a Liquidity Provider, and the Liquidity Provider initiates quoting on the share in question, or when the liquidity of the share has improved as assessed by Nasdaq Nordic according to the following criteria:

1. The share has a quoted spread of not more than 7% in Scheduled Intraday auctions, measured immediately after Scheduled Intraday auction uncross. Spread can be measured only in cases where there are orders unexecuted after an auction uncross on both sides of the book; and
2. The share is traded on a consistent basis during Scheduled Intraday auctions, measured if trades are executed in at least 80% of Scheduled Intraday auctions; and
3. The share has orders on a consistent basis on both sides of the order book immediately after Scheduled Intraday auctions uncross at least in 80% of Scheduled Intraday auctions.

If the above criteria are fulfilled for two consecutive quarters, the share and the equity rights and equity warrants related to it are transferred to the market segment with continuous trading.

An assessment of whether the share still fulfils the criteria is performed by Nasdaq Nordic twice a year: for the first and second quarter of a year (Q1 and Q2) in the beginning of July, and for the third and fourth quarter of a year (Q3 and Q4), in the beginning of January.

Based on the assessment, a share and equity rights and equity warrants related to it will be allocated to Auction Trading for the next two-quarter period.

Procedures related to update schedule and communications

After the two-quarter periods ending in December and June, Nasdaq Nordic will analyze the shares and produce a list of shares that meet the criteria for Auction Trading for the next two-quarter period. When a share meets the criteria, equity rights and equity warrants related to it are also included in the list.

Latest the second Thursday of the calendar month following the two-quarter period, in January and July, Nasdaq Nordic will announce via an IT Notice the instruments to be traded in Auction market segments. Instruments will be moved into Auction Trading and from Auction Trading effective the third Thursday of January and July. If Thursday falls into a non-trading day, the following trading day will be used.

Implementation details

Auction Trading will be offered in dedicated INET market segment with normal opening auction, three consecutive Scheduled Intraday auctions during the trading at 11:00, 13:00 and 15:00 CET without continuous trading between the auctions, and a normal closing auction i.e. with five auctions per day.

New INET market segment “First North Denmark Auction” will be created:

 *GCF ID for production will be communicated when available.

The First North Denmark Auction Market Segment will have five consecutive auctions during the trading day as follows, all times CET:

• Opening auction, no change: Opening auction starts at 08:00 and follows the normal opening schedule as per today. The auction period ends with an uncross that takes place randomly during the last 5 seconds between 09:00:00 and 09:00:05.
• The first Scheduled Intraday auction starts immediately after the opening auction. The auction period ends with a random uncross within the last 5 seconds between 11:00:00 and 11:00:05.
• The second Scheduled Intraday auction starts immediately after the first Scheduled Intraday auction. The auction period ends with a random uncross within the last 5 seconds between 13:00:00 and 13:00:05.
• The third Scheduled Intraday auction starts immediately after the second Scheduled Intraday call. The auction period ends with a random uncross within the last 5 seconds between 15:00:00 and 15:00:05.
• Closing auction: The Closing auction starts immediately after the third Scheduled Intraday auction at 15:00. The auction period ends, as normally, with a random uncross within the last 30 seconds between 16:59:30 and 17:00:00.
• After uncross of the closing auction there will be no Trading@closing price phase and instruments move directly to a post-trade phase.  

Order management, Manual Trade entry and pre-trade and post-trade transparency in Scheduled Intraday auctions follow the current functionalities as described in the INET Nordic Market Model. Nordic@Mid and Auction On Demand are not supported during any auctions, including Scheduled Intraday auctions.

The MIC code for all trades executed in INET segment “First North Denmark Auction” is DSME.

No new Turnover Lists and List Populations will be created.

Shares to be moved to Auction trading

Nasdaq Nordic will announce separately, by July 10, 2025, via an IT Notice the instruments that will be traded in Auction market segment as of July 17, 2025, during the last two quarters of 2025.

Protocol specifications

There will be no changes to any protocol specifications. Latest protocol specifications are available at the Nasdaq Nordic Technical Information website, under INET Nordic Protocol Specifications.

Legal and INET Nasdaq Nordic Market Model

Nasdaq First North Growth Market Rulebook for Issuers of Shares contains the legal basis for allocating Instrument to and from Auction trading. The Rulebook will be updated to include Nasdaq First North Growth Market Denmark to auction trading and will be published on the Nasdaq Nordic website under Issuer Rules, effective from July 1, 2025.

The INET Nordic Market Model will be updated to include Nasdaq First North Growth Market Denmark in Auction Trading. The updated Market Model will be published in due time at Nasdaq Nordic website under Market Models at Nordic Member Rules.

First implementation of the criteria will take place based on data on Q1 and Q2, 2025.

Time Schedule

• INET Test (NTF), GCF TST4 –  March 17, 2025
• INET Production:
  • Market segment available (without instruments) – June 2, 2025
  • Publication of instruments to be transferred to Auction market segment –July 10, 2025
  • Effective date for transferring the shares that meet the criteria to Auction segments – July 17, 2025

 Best regards,

Nasdaq Nordic

*Nasdaq Nordic represents the common offering by Nasdaq Copenhagen, Nasdaq Helsinki, Nasdaq Iceland and Nasdaq Stockholm. Nasdaq Copenhagen, Nasdaq Helsinki, Nasdaq Iceland and Nasdaq Stockholm are respectively brand names for Nasdaq Copenhagen A/S, Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd, Nasdaq Iceland hf. and Nasdaq Stockholm AB.