The Qatar Financial Markets Authority has issued a Code of Market Conduct for transactions among dealers in the Qatari financial markets, setting expectations to deter fraud, deception and market manipulation and to strengthen investor protection and market confidence. The Code elaborates Article 40 of Law No. 8 of 2012 and the Authority’s wider rulebook by describing prohibited misconduct and the related obligations of supervised persons and other market participants. It applies to deceptive or misleading acts carried out by any means, including the use of technical channels to generate and submit orders automatically, and provides examples of manipulation such as creating false impressions of supply, demand or trading activity through promotional trading, wash trades and collusion, and order placement, updating or cancellation designed to mislead, as well as trading intended to fix or create artificial prices including around the open, close or reporting periods. It also clarifies conduct not treated as manipulation under the Code, including compliant issuer buybacks, price stabilisation trades, and market maker or liquidity provider activity carried out under the applicable frameworks, alongside short-interval trading without manipulative intent. A draft version of the Code was previously consulted on with market dealers in July 2024, and the issued Code is described as the Authority’s first standalone conduct legislation addressed to ordinary investors and traders.

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