When you buy a share through your broker’s app, your order lands in the exchange’s order book. There it meets orders from other investors: individuals, funds and professional traders. Understanding how this works makes it easier to place good orders and to interpret the price moves you see.
Oslo Børs and Euronext
Oslo Børs was acquired by Euronext in 2019 and is now part of the group that also runs the exchanges in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Lisbon and Milan, among others. Trading takes place in Euronext’s common trading system.
Oslo Børs has several marketplaces:
- Oslo Børs is the main market, with the strictest requirements for companies.
- Euronext Expand Oslo is a regulated market for smaller companies.
- Euronext Growth Oslo is a growth market with simpler requirements, aimed at smaller companies at an earlier stage.
Disclosure and reporting requirements differ, so it is worth knowing which market a company is listed on.
The order book
The order book shows all buy and sell orders in place for a share.
- Bid: The highest price someone is willing to pay.
- Ask: The lowest price someone is willing to sell for.
- Spread: The difference between the bid and the ask.
A trade happens when a buyer and a seller agree on the price. In large, actively traded shares the spread is often small and there are many orders in the book. In small shares the spread can be wide, and few shares may be available at each price.
The trading day
A trading day on Oslo Børs has three phases:
- Opening auction: Before continuous trading starts, orders are collected without any trades taking place. When the auction closes, one opening price is calculated that maximises turnover, and orders that can be matched trade at that price.
- Continuous trading: Through the day, shares trade continuously. A trade happens whenever a new order can be matched with one in the book.
- Closing auction: At the end of the day, orders are collected again in an auction. The price set here becomes the day’s closing price.
The closing price matters because it is used to calculate indices, fund values and portfolio values. Many large players therefore trade in the closing auction.
The exchange has fixed opening hours on weekdays and is closed on public holidays. Some days, such as before Easter and New Year, are half trading days. Current opening hours and holidays are published by Euronext.
Settlement
Once a trade is done, settlement normally takes place two trading days later. The money moves from buyer to seller, and the shares are registered in the buyer’s account at the central securities depository. The shares appear in the app straight away, but ownership is formally transferred only at settlement.
The indices
| Index | What it contains | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| OSEBX (main index) | A representative selection of shares on Oslo Børs | Measuring the market and comparing returns |
| OBX | The 25 most traded shares | The basis for index funds and derivatives |
| OSEAX (all-share) | All shares on Oslo Børs | A broad measure of the whole market |
The indices are weighted by market value, so the largest companies, such as Equinor and DNB, affect them the most. When the news says Oslo Børs rose on a given day, it usually refers to the main index.
Price moves and news
Listed companies must publish information that may affect the share price as soon as possible. Quarterly reports, contracts, acquisitions and management changes are published as stock exchange announcements. Large price moves often follow straight after such announcements, and at the open the day after news released outside trading hours.
Next steps
- Euronext: trading hours and holidays
- See the Oslo Børs price list
- Read how to buy shares, step by step