Bangkok, Stock Exchange of Thailand Board of Directors Agreed on additional measures to improve confidence in short selling and program trading , including measures to increase information disclosure to the public. The Stock Exchange has informed that according to the Stock Exchange Board of Directors At the meeting on February 12, 2024, there was a resolution to approve in principle the results of the study of laws, rules, and supervisory guidelines of leading stock exchanges abroad to be used in consideration of improving the guidelines for regulating the sale of cash. short selling and using computers to send orders (trading program) of the Stock Exchange To enhance supervision and increase confidence for all types of investors, and yesterday (21 February 2024) the Stock Exchange of Thailand Board of Directors has approved additional measures to enhance supervision of short selling. and using a computer to send orders or trading programs along with increasing measures for disclosing information to the pub lic as follows: 1) Measures to supervise short selling -Review of the properties of securities that can be sold short (eligible securities) Increase the size of the minimum market capitalization of securities from 5,000 million baht to 7,500 million baht, and increase the requirements for considering the liquidity of stocks. The stock must have a monthly trading volume of more than 2% compared to the monthly turnover of listed stocks. -Controlling the effects that may occur from short selling. Price Impact: Establishes additional rules regarding short selling. For short selling only if the stock price of the individual security has dropped more than 10% from the previous day's closing price. The short sale price must be higher than the latest price (uptick rule). Impact on short selling volume: Increase the maximum limit on short selling of securities in each day (daily limit) in order to control the risk so that it does not increase too much Including increasing the daily disclosure of accumulated sho rt selling volume that has not yet been repurchased. (outstanding) for each security To provide additional information to general investors. -Increasing supervision of members by increasing penalties and fines In the case of finding wrongdoing regarding short selling The fines to be imposed on members will be increased approximately three times from the original, which is comparable to the punishment guidelines of leading stock exchanges abroad. In addition, the regulatory agencies will be presented to consider amending the law. related so that investors who commit wrongdoing can be directly punished as well. - Development of a central system for checking securities It will be provided as a central source of information for members and the Stock Exchange. that will be used to verify the existence of investors' securities In order to make short selling supervision more efficient. 2) Measures to supervise program trading to allow trading of securities on the stock exchange. It is orderly (orderly) and preven ts abnormal price fluctuations. Including preventing inappropriate securities trading behavior Including creating a balance between investor groups Will raise the level of regulatory measures for program trading as follows: -Protection against abnormal price fluctuations Add measures to control fluctuations in stock prices during the day. (in addition to setting the ceiling and floor that is currently in force) by adding a ceiling for intraday price movements (dynamic price band), which will be a narrower price movement framework from the ceiling and floor by specifying Include a percentage (e.g. +/- 10%) from the last traded price. If it reaches that price level, trading will be temporarily suspended before opening new trading. In the case where the stock price is very volatile May consider changing the trading method of stocks that are subject to trading supervision measures to a call auction instead. -Supervision of inappropriate trading behavior Improve criteria regarding inappropriate orders It will increase the nature of trading orders that affect the market both in quantity and price. Including creating a central system for screening inappropriate orders (order screening), which will include preventing orders from being placed and withdrawn too frequently. By specifying a minimum resting time for incoming orders before they can be canceled (minimum resting time), for example it may be maintained at least 0.6 seconds, etc. Using measures to automatically stop trading (auto halt) On a per share basis, if it is found that the shares are bought or sold together in an amount that exceeds the specified level This is to prevent the matching of trading orders that may be abnormal. -Improving supervision of high-speed trading (HFT) investors It will increase the strictness of supervision of this type of investor group, such as having to notify or register (register) and provide information related to the Stock Exchange first, etc., for the benefit of regulating the trading of this group of investors. 3) Impr oving the disclosure criteria: -Disclosing the names of investors with inappropriate trading order behavior to all member companies. For member companies to use as information for considering action against that investor, such as reducing the credit limit, requiring trading through an investment advisor (trader), to increase efficiency in preventing sending inappropriate trading orders. -Improving the criteria for disclosing the list of shareholders to cover the case of holding in the NVDR form as well, by requiring the company Thai NVDR Co., Ltd. (as an NVDR issuer) must disclose the names of NVDR holders of at least 0.5% but not less than 10 persons, similar to the disclosure of the names of shareholders of listed companies. For the benefit of regulating those holding NVDRs and to provide investors with more information to make investment decisions. Stock Exchange Board Speed ??up the implementation of the above measures as soon as possible. Especially in terms of measures that the Stock Exchange of Thai land You can do it yourself. But for the necessary parts, there must be detailed consultation with relevant parties (such as member companies, Market Makers), including preparation and adjustment of operating systems of member companies to support the process. Such modification Stock Exchange Will expedite coordination with those involved. This was after receiving approval from the Stock Exchange of Thailand's board of directors. regarding the various measures mentioned above In the next step Stock Exchange There will be an arrangement for listening to opinions (hearing) from those involved. It will also be discussed closely with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before being presented to the SEC for approval. which is in accordance with the prescribed legal procedures. Source: Thai News Agency