012/2026: Amendments to the Exchange Rules and the Fee Regulations for the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse

1. Introduction

With this circular, we inform you about

• amendments to the Exchange Rules for the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse by means of the Twenty-seventh Amendment Ordinance to the Exchange Rules for the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (“Exchange Rules”),
• amendments to the Fee Regulations for the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse by means of the Eighteenth Amendment Ordinance to the Fee Regulations for the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse (“Fee Regulations”).

The rulebook amendments will come into effect on different dates. Please refer to the Attachments for details.

The Amendment Ordinances mentioned above are attached to this circular. The amended rulebooks including the Amendment Ordinances are accessible on the Deutsche Börse website www.cashmarket.deutsche-boerse.com under the following link: Rules & Regulations.

Effective dates: 1 June 2026 and 9 April 2026

2. Required action

There is no action required by the participants.

3. Details of the initiative

I. Amendments to the Exchange Rules

a) Introduction of the Auction Volume Discovery trading functionality

With the extension of the §§ 76 and 77 and the introduction of § 90a, companies admitted to the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse ("FWB®, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange) in the trading model Continuous Trading with Intraday Auctions (Deutsche Börse Xetra, MIC: XETR) will be given the opportunity to mark limited and unlimited orders as so-called "AVD orders". In the aforementioned trading model, such AVD orders can be executed at the end of a specific auction to be determined by the Trading Participant (Opening Auction, Intraday Auction or Closing Auction) at the respective auction price against any existing auction overhang or against each other, but without participating in the call or pricing of the auction itself. Optionally, AVD orders can be provided with a "broker internalization label". Appropriately marked AVD orders from the same Trading Participant will be executed against each other with the highest priority.  

b) Implementation of the Economic Development Act

The background to the amendments to §§ 3, 45 (5), 46, 47, 58, 59 (1), 72 and Annex I Exchange Rules is the enactment of the "Act on the Promotion of Private Investments and the Financial Location" ("Economic Development Act", (Standortfördergesetz, StoFöG)). The amendments to the German Stock Exchange Act and the Stock Exchange Admission Rules have been implemented in the above-mentioned provisions of the Exchange Rules.

c) Change in the definition of a retail investor order

With the introduction of the Xetra Retail Service, a definition of retail investor orders was added to Annex I Exchange Rules. In order to better protect retail investors from significant price deviations and unexpected execution prices in the future, the definition of retail investor orders will be adjusted. This adjustment means that orders from retail investors to which a limit is added by brokers will also be considered retail investor orders in the future and can participate in the Xetra Retail Service.

 d) Adjustment of order book transparency in the Mini Auction

Analogous to the existing regulations on pre-trade transparency in the case of an open order book in auctions pursuant to § 70 (2) sentence 4 Exchange Rules, these are also provided for auctions in the trading model of the Mini Auction (§ 69b (5) sentence 4 Exchange Rules). Thus, in the future, in a Mini Auction with an open order book, in addition to the expected execution price, the executable order volume and a possible order overhang with its volume, the respective bid and/or ask limits together with the cumulative order sizes will also be displayed.

The Management Board intends to switch from the currently closed to an open order book both for the auctions in accordance with § 69 (2) Exchange Rules (Opening Auction, Intraday Auction(s) and Closing Auction) and for the Mini Auctions in accordance with § 69b Exchange Rules. The date of the conversion will be announced in a separate Deutsche Börse circular.

e) Quote Request in the Market Maker Model 

So far, the quote request functionality, which is mainly used in the trading of structured products, has only been available in the trading model of the Continuous Auction with Specialist in addition to direct order entry. 

Due to the increasing relevance of order settings by means of quote requests in trading with structured products, this function will also be available in the trading model of the Continuous Auction with Market Maker in the future. This means that the quote request functionality can be used in all structured products in the future, regardless of the respective trading model. 

f) Editorial changes

The further adjustments in the Exchange Rules concern editorial changes.

 II. Amendments to the Fee Regulations

Implementation of the Economic Development Act

The background to the adjustments in §§ 1, 4, 14 and in Table IX Fee Regulations is the implementation of the Economic Development Act (Standortfördergesetz, StoFöG) in the exchange law provisions. With the amendment, no fees will be charged for the introduction of securities.

  Attachments:

• 1 – Twenty-seventh Amendment Ordinance to the Exchange Rules for the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse
• 2 – Eighteenth Amendment Ordinance to the Fee Regulations for the Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse

Further information