The Taiwan Stock Exchange and the Taipei Exchange have added three stocks to their disposition list — bad news for short-term speculators, but a necessary brake for a market in need of cooling.

• E-Chen, Century Iron & Steel and Ability Opto-Electronics have been designated disposition stocks, and from tomorrow their orders will be matched only once every two minutes.
• E-Chen and Century Iron & Steel face five business days of disposition measures, while Ability Opto-Electronics fares worst, facing seven days.
• The trigger was outsized price gains: one of the stocks rose almost 60% in six days and more than doubled over 30 business days.
• Another warning sign was excessive concentration of trading at a single brokerage, with one broker accounting for a third of a stock's trading volume in a single day.

Outlook: Slower order matching usually drives hot money out, making it highly likely that these stocks will see wider short-term swings and a cooling of their rallies.