Vietnam prepares for KRX stock trading system testing

The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange (HoSE) on Wednesday requested securities companies to prepare for data recorded on February 28, 2025 to be used for the upcoming testing of the new stock trading system KRX.

The KRX system is a comprehensive information technology platform designed to manage and oversee trading on Vietnam’s securities market. The HoSE is the primary developer, with the Korea Exchange (KRX) as the project’s partner.

The project, approved in 2012, aims to modernize Vietnam’s stock trading and settlement infrastructure. In addition to the HoSE, the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) and the Vietnam Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation (VSDC) are also key beneficiaries of the KRX system.

The new platform is expected to enhance the trading and settlement capabilities of the market, introducing advanced features such as same-day trading (T+0), short selling, reduced settlement time, options contract, and the availability of a central counterparty clearing (CCP) system.

KRX system must go live this year

In March and April 2024, the HoSE conducted system transition drills for securities companies to input orders as they would do on a regular trading day. In late April, it instructed securities firms to prepare for the official go-live of the system on May 2, 2024.

However, the State Securities Commission (SSC) later sent an urgent dispatch to the Vietnam Stock Exchnge (VNX), the HoSE, the HNX, and the VSDC, stating that there was insufficient basis to approve the HoSE's request for the KRX system to go live on May 2, 2024.

At the end of 2024, during a conference to review the performance in 2024 and set tasks for 2025, SSC chairwoman Vu Thi Chan Phuong required the HoSE, the HNX, and the VSDC to put the KRX system into operation in 2025. These units also need to research and develop new IT and trading systems to meet the demands of market status upgrade.

At the ceremony marking the opening of the stock market in the Lunar New Year 2025, Nguyen Viet Ha, acting chairwoman of the HoSE, stated that the system had met the legal requirements for information security, had been tested across the entire market, and is now in its final stages for launch in the near future.