Prissteg

Prissteg (Swedish: "price step") is a financial market term referring to the smallest allowable increment by which the price of a security, commodity or contract can change on an exchange. It is equivalent to the concept of tick size in English-language markets and determines the discrete granularity of quoted prices and executed transactions.

Prissteg is set by exchange rules or market regulators and can vary by instrument, price level and trading venue. Smaller prissteg allow finer price competition and tighter quoted spreads, while larger prissteg can reduce quote flicker and simplify price discovery. The chosen increment influences order book dynamics, liquidity allocation, and the behavior of market participants including retail traders, market makers and algorithmic strategies.

Operationally, prissteg constraints mean orders must be priced at multiples of the step, affecting limit order placement and execution priority. Changes to prissteg regimes—such as reductions to permit smaller increments—are sometimes implemented to enhance market efficiency but may also increase message traffic and the prevalence of high-frequency strategies. Regulators weigh trade-offs between market transparency, stability and fairness when approving step-size adjustments.

The term is commonly used in Nordic and other European contexts; equivalent terms include tick size, minimum price movement and price increment. Understanding prissteg is important for trading strategy design, exchange compliance and regulatory policy discussions.