100-Share Lots and Trading Costs

1 lot = 100 shares

An A-share board lot is 100 shares: buys must be in multiples of 100, and odd lots of fewer than 100 shares can only be sold, all at once. On the STAR Market the minimum buy is 200 shares, then any number above that.

Three fees on every trade

commission is set by your broker; the transfer fee is charged on both buys and sells; stamp duty is charged only when you sell, at 0.05% (halved from August 28, 2023).

Small trades cost more

Many brokers charge at least 5 yuan per trade. On a 2,000-yuan purchase the percentage commission is only a few jiao, but you pay the 5-yuan minimum commission, so the round-trip cost as a share of the trade is several times higher.

Key takeaways

• Buy quantities must be multiples of 100 shares (one lot); on the STAR Market the minimum is 200 shares, and above that you can add one share at a time.
• Odd lots of fewer than 100 shares can only be sold, and all at once.
• Commission is set by your broker, and many charge at least 5 yuan per trade; the transfer fee is charged on both sides; stamp duty is charged only on sales, at 0.05%.
• The smaller the trade, the bigger the share taken by the minimum commission, and the more the price has to rise to break even.

Try it yourself

You can do these exercises in this lesson's interactive simulation:

1. Price 18.6 yuan, budget 10,000 yuan: how many lots can you buy? How much is left?
2. Set “Shares I want to buy” to 150: can you place the order? Switch to the STAR Market and try 201.
3. In the cost simulator, buy 200 shares at 10 yuan: what share of the trade goes to fees? How far must the price rise to break even?
4. Set the quantity to 5,000 shares, then switch to “No minimum commission”: how does the share of fees change?

Quiz and explanations

1. A stock is 18.6 yuan. How much do you need for one lot, before fees?

Answer: 1,860 yuan.One lot is 100 shares: 18.6 × 100 = 1,860 yuan.

2. Which fee is charged only when you sell?

Answer: Stamp duty.A-share stamp duty is charged only to the seller, at 0.05% of the trade value since August 28, 2023.

3. With commission at 0.025% and a 5-yuan minimum per trade, how much commission do you pay to buy 2,000 yuan of stock?

Answer: 5 yuan.2,000 × 0.025% = 0.5 yuan, which is below the minimum, so you're charged 5 yuan.

Terms in this lesson

• board lot (Board Lot): The exchange's minimum trading unit. A-shares and Japanese stocks trade in lots of 100 shares, each Hong Kong stock sets its own, a Taiwan lot is 1,000 shares, and US and Korean stocks can be bought from 1 share.
• commission (Commission): The fee you pay your broker each time you buy or sell, which comes straight out of your profit.
• minimum commission (Minimum Commission): The lowest commission a broker charges per trade. When a trade is very small and the percentage commission falls below it, you still pay the minimum, so fees take a bigger share.
• odd lot (Odd Lot): A number of shares smaller than one lot. In many markets you can only buy whole lots, and odd lots have to be traded in special sessions or markets, or can only be sold.
• stamp duty (Stamp Duty): A government tax on share trades. A-shares charge 0.05% on sales only; in Hong Kong buyer and seller each pay 0.1%.
• transfer fee (Transfer Fee): A small fee both buyer and seller pay on A-share trades, 0.001% of the trade value, usually collected by the broker.