How to Use the “PSE Board Lot Table”

October 25, 2020 / Stock Trading / By James Ryan Jonas

How much money is needed to start trading stocks in the Philippine Stock Exchange
(PSE)? How many shares of Globe Telecom (GLO), PXP Energy Corp. (PXP), DITO
CME Holdings (DITO), or Megaworld (MEG) can I buy or sell at any given time?

You probably don’t know it, but these questions can be answered by simply looking at
what is called the PSE Board Lot Table.
Article Guide
 What is the PSE Board Lot Table?
 How to Read the PSE Board Lot Table
 3 Uses of the PSE Board Lot Table
o 1. What’s the Minimum Number of Shares I can buy (or sell) in the
PSE?
o 2. What’s the allowed Stock Price Changes in the PSE?
o 3. How much money needed to invest in the PSE?

What is the PSE Board Lot Table?

The Board Lot table of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is a guide for investors that
shows the:

1. Minimum number of shares that can be bought or sold at any given time;
and
 2. Minimum price increments of each traded stock in the PSE.
Here’s what the PSE Board Lot table looks like.

Fluctuations in Price (Tick Board Lot (Minimum No. of

  Stock Price
Size) Shares)

A P0.0001 - 0.0099 P0.0001 1,000,000

B P0.0100 - 0.0490 P0.0010 100,000

C P0.0500 - 0.2490 P0.0010 10,000

 Fluctuations in Price (Tick Board Lot (Minimum No. of
  Stock Price
Size) Shares)

D P0.2500 - 0.4950 P0.0050 10,000

E P0.50 - 4.99 P0.010 1,000

F P5.00 - 9.99 P0.010 100

G P10.00 - 19.98 P0.02 100

H P20.00 - 49.95 P0.05 100

I P50.00 - 99.95 P0.05 10

J P100.00 - 199.00 P0.10 10

K P200.00 - 499.80 P0.20 10

L P500.00 - 999.50 P0.50 10

M P1,000.00 - P1.00 5
1,999.00

N P2,000.00 - P2.00 5
4,998.00

O P5,000.00 - P5.00 5
above

How to Read the PSE Board Lot Table

The “Stock Price” column shows the range of prices of a given stock and, depending on
its current price, its corresponding row will show the fluctuations in price and the
minimum number of shares that cane be sold or bought.

The “Fluctuations in Price” column shows the allowed fluctuation or change in price of

a given stock.
For example, if the fluctuation in price (or tick size) is P5.00, same as in Row O, the
stock price can only move by increments of P5.00.

So a stock currently trading at P5,100.00 can become P5,105.00 or P5,500.00 or even

P6,500.00 or P4,500.00 — because all these figures are divisible by P5.00.
Similarly, the stock cannot be priced at P5,103.00 or P5,501.25 or P6,557.00 because
these numbers are NOT divisible by the required tick size of P5.00.

Meanwhile, the “Board Lot” column represents the minimum number of shares that can
be traded depending on the stock’s current price. So, if for example, the required board
lot is 1,000 — as in Row E — you can buy or sell stocks as long as the number is
divisible by 1,000. This means you can buy 2,000 shares or 5,000 shares or even 30,000
shares.
We’ll see a clearer application of the Board Lot in our practical examples below.

For now, just take note that this table governs only “Normal Lot” trades in the PSE. The
“Normal Lot” is still slightly different from the “Odd Lot” market, which we will
discuss in a separate article.
Don’t worry for now because in most cases you’ll just be trading “normally” so you only
need to understand the “Normal Lot” version of the PSE Board Lot table.

3 Uses of the PSE Board Lot Table

The PSE Board Lot Table can be used to determine three things:

 (1) the minimum number of shares that can be traded for each stock;

 (2) the minimum price fluctuation or increment applicable to each stock;
and
 (3) the minimum amount of money needed to buy any PSE-traded stock.
Let’s look at three examples showing how we can use the PSE Board Lot table to
determine these three things.

1. What’s the Minimum Number of Shares I can buy

(or sell) in the PSE?
To know the minimum number of shares that can be bought or sold in the PSE, get the
current stock price and check its corresponding board lot in the PSE Board Lot Table. For
a more detailed guide how to do this, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Get the current price of the stock. Let’s say you want to know the minimum
number of shares of Globe Telecom (stock code: GLO) that you can buy or sell. Check
the PSE website or your broker’s website to get GLO’s current price. Let’s say you
checked and saw that it is currently trading at P2,200.00.
Step 2:  Check the row in the PSE Board Lot table corresponding to this stock
price. GLO’s stock price of P2,200.00 corresponds to “Row N” in the Board Lot table.
This is because the price falls within the range P2,000.00 to P4,998.00.
Step 3: In this row, check the corresponding Board Lot (Lot Size) column. The lot
size represents the minimum number of shares that can be traded for any stock.
In the case of GLO, the lot size is 5 — meaning, a minimum of five (5) shares of GLO
can be bought or sold at any time.
Can you sell 50 shares? Yes! Remember, the Lot Size shown is just minimum. The
number of shares trades can be higher than 5, as long as the number of shares being
traded is divisible by 5.

Can you sell just 2 shares of GLO? No! How about buying 120 shares of GLO? That’s
possible because 120 is divisible by 5.

Easy, right? Let’s move on to the next application of the Board Lot table.

2. What’s the allowed Stock Price Changes in the

PSE?
Let’s say you bought shares of SM Prime Holdings (stock code: SMPH) at P20.00 and
now you want to sell those to lock in the profit. The stock currently trades at P36.15 per
share. Can you sell it at P36.08? How about at P36.25?

To determine the allowed price increment or price change for any give PSE-traded stock,
use the Board Lot Table and check the Tick Size or Minimum Fluctuations column.
Follow this step-by-step guide if you need more details.
Step 1: Get the current price of the stock. Just like in Example 1 above, you can check
the PSE website or your broker’s website to get the current price of your stock. In the
case of SMPH, let’s assume its current stock price is P36.15.
Step 2:  Check the row in the PSE Board Lot table corresponding to this stock
price. If SMPH’s stock price is P36.15, which row in the Board Lot table corresponds to
this price?
If you answered “Row H”, you are correct. SMPH’s stock price is within the price range
of that row (P20.00 to P49.95), so we will use this row in Step 3.
Step 3: Determine the Minimum Price Fluctuations (Tick Size) for that stock. The
“Tick Size” column represents the minimum price change or price increment for any
given stock.
With SMPH trading at P36.15 per share, the relevant row is “Row H” which tells us that
the tick size is PHP 0.05. This means the allowed prices to buy or sell SMPH must be in
increments of or divisible by 0.05.

So, going back to the question earlier: can you sell SMPH at a price of P36.08? Since it’s
not divisible by 0.05, this is not allowed.

Can you sell it at P36.25? Yes! Since this price is divisible by 0.05, SMPH can be sold at
this price!

But take note, whether the sale will be a done trade will, of course, depend on the
presence of buyers willing to purchase SMPH shares at your asking price.

As you can see, knowing the Board Lot Table is especially useful if you want to input
your own preferred buying or selling price of a stock.

3. How much money needed to invest in the PSE?

Actually in the PSE, there is no fixed minimum amount of money needed to begin
investing in stocks. The minimum amount will depend on the price of the stock and the
minimum lot size as shown in the PSE Board Lot Table.
Let’s see an example below. Let’s say we want to know how much we need in order to
make our very first trade: buy the minimum number of shares of Megaworld Corp. (stock
code: MEG).
Step 1: Get the current price of the stock. Again you can simply check the PSE
website or your broker’s website to get the current price of your stock. In the case of
MEG, let’s say it’s current price is P3.35.
Step 2:  Determine the lot size of that stock in the PSE Board Lot table. We need to
know the minimum amount of MEG shares that can be traded. To do this, refer back to
the step-by-step process explained in Example A above. Checking MEG in the Board Lot
table, we see that its minimum lot size is 1,000 shares in “Row E”.
Step 3: Multiply the current price with the minimum lot size. The product of the
current price and a stock’s minimum lot size equals the minimum amount of money you
need to buy that stock. In the case of MEG, this is P3.35 x 1,000 shares = P3,350.
This means you need P3,350 to start buying the minimum allowed number of MEG
shares. See, a very useful application of the PSE Board Lot table is in determining
the minimum amount of money needed so you can begin trading stocks.
Wait, there’s more!

Take note that stockbrokers such as COL Financial, BPI Trade, PhilStocks, BDO
Nomura, First Metro Securities, etc. charge certain fees and commissions so this amount
will surely increase.

Read our article on PSE Stock Trading Fees and Charges to find out what these
specific fees and charges are.
Also, be informed that some stock brokers require that you fund your trading account a
minimum amount of money before you can start trading. This amount is usually higher
than the minimum amount of money you need to buy a particular stock.

Find out the minimum amount needed to fund your broker’s trading account in the
article Survey: Best Online Stock Brokers in the Philippines?.
Congratulation! Now you know how to use the PSE Board Lot table. Happy investing!