Odd Lot SGX Singapore
What happens when you hold or want to trade fewer shares than a full board lot
An odd lot is any quantity of shares on the Singapore Exchange that is smaller than the standard board lot size of 100 shares — for example, holding 37 shares of a counter — and it must be traded through a separate, less liquid odd lot market rather than the main continuous trading board.
Not financial advice. All figures for educational reference only. Data as at October 2026.
- SGX’s standard board lot size is 100 shares; any quantity below that, such as 1 to 99 shares, is an odd lot.
- Odd lots are traded on a separate order book from the main market and typically have far lower liquidity and wider spreads.
- Odd lots commonly arise from corporate actions like stock splits, bonus issues, rights issues, or scrip dividends that don’t divide evenly into 100-share blocks.
- Most brokers allow you to place odd lot orders, but execution isn’t guaranteed quickly, and you may get a worse price than the round lot market.
- Over time, an investor who regularly reinvests small dividend amounts or does fractional-style investing can accumulate a meaningful position purely from odd lots.
Table of Contents
What Is Odd Lot?
On SGX, shares are normally bought and sold in standard quantities called board lots, fixed at 100 shares per lot. If you end up holding a quantity that isn’t a clean multiple of 100 — say 150 shares, where 100 is one board lot and the remaining 50 is an odd lot — that remaining 50-share chunk cannot be sold on the main, highly liquid order book in the same way. Instead, it has to go through SGX’s separate, much thinner odd lot market.
Odd lots typically appear for a few common reasons: a corporate action like a 1-for-3 bonus issue or a scrip dividend that converts cash dividends into shares at a price that doesn’t divide evenly into 100s, a stock split that leaves fractional remainders, or simply an investor building a position gradually and ending up with an uneven total. Because fewer investors and market makers actively trade in the odd lot market, the bid-ask spread is usually much wider, and it can take longer to find a counterparty willing to transact at a fair price.
For long-term Singapore dividend investors who reinvest distributions regularly, odd lots are an almost unavoidable byproduct of compounding — each reinvested payout that isn’t a clean multiple of the board lot size leaves a small odd lot remainder behind. Understanding how to eventually consolidate or sell these remainders matters, especially if you’re ever rebalancing a portfolio or need the full position liquid for an emergency.
How It Works in Singapore
To trade an odd lot: (1) check your brokerage platform — most SGX-linked brokers (DBS Vickers, FSMOne, Tiger, moomoo, etc.) have a separate order type or tab for odd lot trading; (2) place a buy or sell order in the odd lot market, specifying the exact non-board-lot quantity; (3) because liquidity is thinner, your order may take longer to fill, or you may need to accept a less favourable price than the quoted round lot price; (4) once filled, the shares settle through CDP exactly like a normal trade — there’s no difference in ownership rights, voting rights, or dividend entitlement between odd lot shares and board lot shares, only in how they’re traded.
Worked Example
An investor holds 250 shares of a REIT after several years of dividend reinvestment. That’s 2 full board lots (200 shares) plus an odd lot of 50 shares. If they want to fully exit the position, they can sell the 200-share portion easily on the main market at the quoted price, but the remaining 50-share odd lot must be sold separately through the odd lot market — possibly at a slightly worse price and with less certainty of a quick fill, since far fewer buyers are actively quoting there.
Worked Example
Advantages
- Allows investors to hold and eventually liquidate exact share counts rather than being forced into board-lot-only ownership.
- Makes dividend reinvestment and gradual accumulation strategies practical, since reinvested amounts rarely divide evenly into 100-share blocks.
- Odd lot shares carry identical ownership, voting, and dividend rights as board lot shares — there’s no second-class status.
- Over many years, consistently reinvested odd lots can compound into a meaningful supplementary position.
Risks and Limitations
- Lower liquidity in the odd lot market usually means wider bid-ask spreads and potentially worse execution prices.
- Selling an odd lot can take longer than selling a board lot, since fewer market participants actively trade in that book.
- Some investors unknowingly end up with small, hard-to-sell odd lot remainders that sit untouched in their portfolio for years.
- Brokerage fees on very small odd lot trades can eat up a disproportionately large share of the trade’s value.
Odd Lot vs Board Lot
| Feature | Odd Lot | Board Lot |
|---|---|---|
| Standard size | Any quantity below 100 shares | Fixed at 100 shares |
| Trading venue | Separate, thinner odd lot order book | Main continuous trading order book |
| Typical liquidity | Lower, wider spreads | Higher, tighter spreads |
| Common cause | Dividend reinvestment, bonus issues, splits | Normal buy/sell orders in multiples of 100 |
| Ownership rights | Identical to board lot shares | Identical to odd lot shares |
The Bottom Line
Odd lots are a normal, unavoidable byproduct of long-term dividend reinvestment and corporate actions on SGX — they carry the same rights as board lot shares, just with thinner liquidity if you ever need to sell them separately. Most Singapore investors can simply let odd lots accumulate as part of compounding and only worry about consolidating them when fully exiting a position.
Related Terms:
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as an odd lot on SGX?
Any share quantity that isn’t an exact multiple of the standard 100-share board lot — for example, 1, 50, or 237 shares.
Can I sell odd lot shares the same way as board lot shares?
Not on the main order book; odd lots must be traded through SGX’s separate odd lot market, which typically has lower liquidity and wider spreads.
Do odd lot shares pay the same dividends as board lot shares?
Yes — dividend entitlement, voting rights, and all other shareholder rights are identical regardless of whether the shares are held in board lot or odd lot quantities.
Why do I end up with odd lots from dividend reinvestment?
Because the cash dividend amount reinvested rarely converts into an exact multiple of 100 shares at the prevailing share price, leaving a smaller remainder as an odd lot.
Is it worth selling small odd lot positions?
It depends on the brokerage fees relative to the position’s value — very small odd lots may cost more in fixed fees to sell than they’re worth, so many investors simply let them accumulate alongside future purchases.
Disclaimer: This glossary entry is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Data sourced from official regulator and industry websites as at October 2026.