Cambodia's capital market regulator will meet soon to discuss a proposal to permit market orders for trading stocks on the Kingdom’s bourse, a move that would give investors more flexibility when buying or selling shares, officials have said.

Lamun Soleil, director of market operations at the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX), said investors currently only have the option to trade stocks on the exchange using a limit order, where instructions are given to execute the trade within a specified price band.

However, if the market price of the stock does not fall within that band, or there is not enough liquidity in the stock to fill the order, the limit order is not executed.

A market order, by contrast, provides instruction to execute a transaction at the present market price, improving the chances that the order will be completed swiftly.

Soleil said the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) is expected to discuss a proposal to allow market orders during its next board meeting.

“The reason for introducing market orders is to provide more choices for investors,” he said. “It is to serve investors who want to immediately enter or exit the market at a market price, and at a higher priority than most other investors.”

Soleil said that the CSX hopes to expand the range of order options for investors, providing more choices according to suit their individual preferences.

“A limit order is the minimum type of order existing in every market,” he explained. “Other types of non-limit orders will be introduced sooner or later, depending on the effectiveness of the market order.”

Sip Layheng, head of operations at SBI Royal Securities, said investors would benefit from the option of placing market orders as it improves the chances for executing trades, especially given the low liquidity of the CSX, which has only five listed stocks.

“Market orders guarantee a high possibility of execution,” she said. “It will help to execute orders immediately and is a good [option] for active traders.”