Trading Restriction Period Shortened: First OTC Stock to Exit Suspension Early Under New Rules on August 10

Amid recent extreme volatility in Taiwan's stock market, drawing significant attention from legislators and investors, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) and GreTai Securities Market (GTSM) held emergency press conferences this afternoon (August 3) to announce major revisions to trading restriction rules, including the duration of suspension periods and trade matching frequency. The new system will take effect on August 10, 2023.

Today, GTSM announced that Aspirev (4556-TW) has been placed under trading restrictions. Originally, the restriction was set to last from August 4 to August 17 under the old rules. However, due to the transition to the new system, the restriction will now be lifted early on August 10.

This marks the first comprehensive reform of the trading restriction mechanism in 30 years, significantly easing both the length of restriction periods and trade matching intervals. Under the revised rules, stocks designated for restriction for the first or second time will see their restriction period shortened from 10 business days to 5 business days. For stocks with high same-day trading volume, the period will be 7 business days. Additionally, the trade matching interval will be reduced from every 5 or 20 minutes to every 2 minutes.

For stocks already under restriction when the new rules take effect on August 10, if they have already completed 5 business days (or 7 for high same-day trading stocks) of restriction by that date, they will be automatically released from restrictions starting August 10.

Aspirev was placed under restriction because its closing price dropped by 40.8% cumulatively over the past six trading days. Its restriction period happens to fall across the transition between the old and new systems. Originally, under the old rules, it would have remained restricted until August 17. However, since it meets the new requirement of completing 5 business days of restriction, it will be released on August 10—making it the first stock to benefit from the new trading restriction regime.

According to the announcement, Aspirev’s trading on August 4 will still follow the old 20-minute matching rule. However, on August 10—the final day of its restriction—the new 2-minute matching rule will be applied.