SGX's Game-Changing 10 Units Board Lot Size

If you’ve ever looked at DBS’s share price and thought, “I don’t have $5,000 just to buy one lot,” the Singapore Exchange (SGX) has finally heard you.

In a major announcement just yesterday (19 November), SGX revealed plans to slash the standard board lot size from 100 units to just 10 units for securities priced above S$10. 

This is a great shift for our local markets, and I want to break down what exactly it means for us: our portfolios, the timeline, and taking note of fee traps. 

The Affordability Leap

For decades, the "entry ticket" to the Singapore market has been the standard 100-share board lot. If a stock traded at S$1,youneeded\$$100. Manageable. 

 

But for some of our best performing blue chips, this created a high barrier to entry.  Take DBS for example, at a ~$53 share price, one lot would cost an investor more than $5300. Similar for other blue chips like UOB, OCBC, Great Eastern, SGX, Haw Par and more, your cost price per lot would have to be denominated in the thousands. 

Under the new rules (slated for consultation in Q1 2026), the minimum lot for these "expensive" stocks drops to 10 units.

Suddenly, owning a piece of Singapore’s largest bank doesn't require a monthly salary’s worth of capital. You can get in for roughly S$537. 

For New Investors: Why This Matters

This is undeniably good news for two reasons: Accessibility and Diversification.

Previously, if you had S$10,000 to invest, buying one lot of DBS and one lot of UOB would eat up 90% of your cash. You’d be heavily concentrated in just two banking stocks.

With the 10-unit lot size, that same S$10,000 can now be split across banks, REITs, industrials, etc. much more granularly. You can dollar-cost average (DCA) into winning positions without needing to save up for months just to make a single trade.

Just take note that smaller orders may incur a higher percentage in costs due to minimum commissions and fees, which differs across brokerages. 

For The Broader Market

The reduction in board lot size is a strategic move to improve the overall health and relevance of the exchange. This change directly addresses two key market issues: liquidity and participation. 

The biggest challenge for the SGX has been retaining young and active retail investors who have flocked to US exchanges offering fractional shares and zero-commission trades. By making its most attractive blue chips immediately accessible, the SGX hopes to:

• Broaden the Base: Attract new investors who were previously sidelined by the high costs.
• Boost Trading Frequency: Encourage retail investors to execute smaller, more regular trades (ideal for dollar-cost averaging), which adds to the overall market activity.

In market terms, liquidity is the ease with which an asset can be bought or sold without affecting its price. Poor liquidity results in wide bid-ask spreads (the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay and the lowest price a seller will accept).

• How Small Lots Help: By allowing trades in 10-unit increments instead of 100, the SGX is injecting smaller, more frequent orders into the system. This reduces the "lumpiness" of the order book.

Conclusion

The framework will begin consultation in Q1 2026, with eyes on a mid-year implementation. Until then, the message is clear: the blue chips are about to become highly accessible. This is great news for myself, as I have more flexibility in how I invest and build my portfolio of dividend paying stocks. 

 

Disclaimer: This blog post is for entertainment and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice. Please do your own due diligence.