ASX 24

ASX 24 is the Australian Securities Exchange group’s market for futures and options linked to Australian and New Zealand interest rates, equity indices and commodities. It is a trading market, distinct from the technology used to enter orders and from the clearing house that assumes obligations after trades are accepted. Its products include bond, bank-bill, share-index, electricity and grain derivatives. ^[1][2][3]

Place in the Australian market

ASX 24 provides a venue for trading standardised derivative contracts rather than directly buying and selling the underlying shares, bonds or physical commodities. A futures contract establishes obligations whose value changes with an underlying market measure; an option gives its holder rights under the terms of the relevant contract. The exchange publishes product specifications, while trading, clearing and settlement are governed by separate sets of rules. The distinction matters because an ASX 24 trade passes through several functions: execution on the market, registration for clearing and the subsequent management of the resulting position. ^[1][3][4]

ASX identifies banks, superannuation funds, government agencies, hedge funds and proprietary trading firms among the participants in Australian and New Zealand futures markets. These participants may use contracts for different purposes, including changing exposure to interest rates, equity indices or commodity prices. A derivative position is not necessarily an investment in the underlying asset: for example, exposure to an equity index through a futures contract does not itself confer ownership of each company represented in that index. ^[1][6]

ASX 24 should not be confused with ASX Trade, the group’s platform for cash-market equities and exchange-traded equity options. ASX describes index futures, including SPI and MINI SPI products, as ASX 24 products, while identifying exchange-traded options over indices as products on ASX Trade. The division also extends to clearing: ASX Clear (Futures) clears ASX 24 futures and options, whereas ASX Clear provides clearing for equity derivatives traded on ASX Trade. ^[2][3][6][7]

Origins and trading technology

The market’s institutional background includes the Sydney Futures Exchange. The Australian Stock Exchange and SFE Corporation merged in July 2006, combining businesses associated with securities and futures trading in the ASX group. That history explains why the group operates both a securities market and a separately identified futures market. It does not mean that trading a futures contract is equivalent to trading the security or commodity to which it refers. ^[8]

ASX identifies NTP as the trading platform providing access to futures and options listed on ASX 24. In this terminology, **ASX 24 is the market and NTP is its trading technology**. Keeping those names separate is useful when discussing trading rules, participant access or technology changes: a change to the system that processes orders is not, by itself, the creation of a different underlying contract or clearing house. ^[2]

ASX has described an ASX 24 platform replacement project intended to replace its ageing futures trading system with a vendor-supported solution. The project is an infrastructure initiative, rather than a description of the market’s product range. ASX also publishes a trading calendar that distinguishes day and night sessions and addresses the treatment of Australian, New Zealand, US and international holidays. Trading availability therefore depends on the contract and the applicable session or calendar date, rather than on a single universal set of hours for every ASX 24 product. ^[9][10]

Contracts and underlying markets

Interest-rate derivatives are a substantial part of the ASX 24 product range. ASX lists futures and options linked to Australian and New Zealand interest rates, including Australian three- and ten-year Treasury bond futures, 90-day bank-bill futures and 30-day interbank cash-rate futures. Different contracts refer to different parts of the interest-rate market: a short-term rate contract and a government-bond futures contract do not measure identical exposures merely because both respond to changes in financing conditions. Their precise terms are set out in the relevant contract specifications. ^[1][11]

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s cash rate and the pricing of short-term money-market instruments are related subjects, but an ASX 24 futures price should not be presented as an announced central-bank decision. A futures contract is traded at a market price that can change as participants revise their expectations and exposures. ASX separately identifies the 30-day interbank cash-rate and 90-day bank-bill contracts in its short-term derivatives information. The bank bill swap rate is another Australian interest-rate reference point, but it is not interchangeable with every ASX 24 rate contract. ^[11][12]

Equity-index derivatives provide a different type of exposure. ASX lists SPI and MINI SPI futures among its ASX 24 index products. The SPI 200 future is cash-settled against the S&P/ASX 200 Index, so settlement does not require delivery of shares in each index constituent. ASX also identifies futures associated with other index segments, including real-estate, financial and resources indices. As with interest-rate contracts, the name of the underlying index describes the reference measure, not the identity of the trading venue or clearing counterparty. ^[6][13]

ASX’s derivatives range also includes Australian and New Zealand electricity futures and options, environmental derivatives, Australian natural-gas futures and Australian grain derivatives. These markets connect ASX 24 to risks outside conventional securities portfolios. The economic exposure and settlement requirements of a commodity contract depend on that contract’s specifications; it would be misleading to assume that every commodity future is settled in the same manner as a cash-settled share-index future. ^[1][14]

Participation and market rules

Access to ASX 24 is organised through trading participants. Under the ASX 24 Operating Rules, an applicant for admission as a trading participant must satisfy requirements concerning its legal form, licensing where required, business integrity, resources, processes and clearing arrangements. The rules also address the capacity to maintain a fair and orderly market and to avoid interfering with the trading platform’s proper operation. These requirements apply to entities seeking participant status; they should not be confused with the terms under which an end client deals through an intermediary. ^[4]

The operating rules establish a framework for market conduct, products and trading, while ASX publishes additional material such as calendars and contract specifications. A participant’s ability to enter a trade does not eliminate the need for that trade to be handled through appropriate clearing arrangements. ASX states that, where a trading participant is not itself a clearing participant, a guarantor clearing participant is involved in the cleared contract. This separation between trading and clearing membership is a structural feature of the market. ^[3][4][10]

In Australia, Australian Securities and Investments Commission supervises operators of financial markets. ASIC states that operating a financial market generally requires a market licence unless an exemption applies, and that it assesses matters including changes to licensees’ operating rules. Exchange rules and public supervision therefore have different roles: ASX sets and administers market-specific operating requirements, while ASIC carries out statutory market supervision. ^[15]

Clearing, margins and risk

ASX Clear (Futures) is the central counterparty for futures and options traded on ASX 24. After it accepts and novates a market contract, the original trade gives rise to open contracts between the clearing house and the relevant clearing participants. The clearing house thus assumes a central role in managing counterparty exposure. **ASX 24 is the trading market; ASX Clear (Futures) is the clearing facility.** The names describe connected but legally and operationally different stages of a transaction. ^[3]

Clearing participants are subject to margin requirements. ASX states that its futures clearing house calculates initial margin on open positions and variation margin reflecting changes in position values. Its published risk controls also include intraday and end-of-day margining, minimum capital requirements for clearing participants, stress testing and a default fund. These measures address exposures arising from cleared positions; they do not imply that losses on a derivative position cannot exceed an initial payment or that the clearing house removes all market risk for the holder of a contract. ^[3][5]

ASX Clear (Futures) also clears eligible over-the-counter derivatives submitted through approved processes. That service is distinct from trading a listed contract on ASX 24: clearing eligibility does not turn an off-market transaction into an on-market execution. The distinction is relevant when comparing published exchange activity with the wider set of positions processed by the same central counterparty. ^[3]

The Reserve Bank of Australia assesses ASX group clearing and settlement facilities against applicable financial stability standards. Its September 2026 assessment covers ASX Clear (Futures) alongside other ASX clearing and settlement facilities. This oversight concerns the safety and operation of post-trade infrastructure, rather than setting the prices at which ASX 24 contracts trade. Together with market supervision by ASIC, it illustrates why the trading venue and the clearing facility must be identified separately when describing ASX 24. ^[15][16]