Two of the Dhaka Stock Exchange’s most heavily traded stocks have stopped experiencing normal price discovery. Beximco Ltd has not traded above its floor since July 2022 — nearly four years frozen at what is now Tk 110.10. Islami Bank Bangladesh joined the gridlock on May 3 of this year, pinned at Tk 33. On Monday, the DSE Brokers Association of Bangladesh formally wrote to BSEC Chairman Khondoker Rashed Maqsood demanding both freezes end immediately.
The request arrives at a precarious moment. The broader market shed approximately Tk 6,300 crore in capitalisation across three trading sessions ending May 6. On May 5, 227 of 393 stocks declined as late-hour selling drove an ugly close. On May 6, the DSEX extended its losing streak to six sessions as turnover dropped to Tk 768 crore.
The brokers are not asking for a regulatory adjustment. They are arguing that the floor price mechanism itself has become the disease.
The Letter and What It Asks
DBA President Saiful Islam signed the letter delivered to BSEC on May 4. Its arguments are precise rather than rhetorical. Beximco has been “practically non-transactional for a long time,” the letter states, while normal selling activity in Islami Bank has been “hampered” since the May 3 floor imposition.
The DBA cites three specific harms: rising negative equity risk for investors holding margin loans against frozen shares, deteriorating perception among international investors weighing Bangladesh, and contribution to the broader liquidity crisis pulling the market lower. The letter does not propose a graduated lifting. It asks for immediate withdrawal.
That distinction matters. A graduated request would invite negotiation. An ultimatum forces a yes-or-no answer.
The Beximco Problem: Four Years at Tk 110.10
The arithmetic of Beximco’s freeze is brutal. The floor was originally set in July 2022 when BSEC imposed circuit-breaker style limits on every DSE-listed stock to arrest a market freefall. Nearly all of those floors were lifted in the January 2024 reform — only 35 companies retained the curb. Beximco was on that list and remains on it. In November 2024, the floor was adjusted from Tk 115.60 to Tk 110.10 to account for a stock dividend. That technical recalibration is the only price movement Beximco has had in nearly four years.
There has been one almost-exit. In August 2024, BSEC briefly lifted Beximco’s floor along with two other stocks. Within hours — following the BSEC chairman’s resignation that same day — the regulator reinstated it. Beximco shareholders have not had a working market since.
The Political Weight Behind the Frozen Price
Beximco is not just any frozen stock. The company is owned by Salman F Rahman, former private industry adviser to ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, arrested in August 2024 and now facing multiple cases including Tk 2,858 crore embezzlement charges. In December 2025, DSE sought urgent data on broker investments in Beximco shares. A so-called “gang of eight” was found to have executed circular trades to manufacture the appearance of liquidity. Beximco Group is reportedly looking to sell 32 garment manufacturing firms.
Lifting Beximco’s floor is not a clean technical decision. It is a political calculation about how the post-Hasina capital market should treat a politically exposed asset. That calculation explains the four-year delay — and it explains why the brokers are forcing the question now.
Islami Bank: Four Days That Already Hurt
Islami Bank’s freeze is recent enough that the damage is still compounding. The floor was imposed on May 3, 2026 — four trading days before the brokers’ letter. The bank is among the most actively traded names on the exchange, which means the liquidity withdrawn by a single regulatory action is significant.
The fundamentals justify the regulator’s nervousness. Islami Bank’s non-performing loans crossed Tk 1 lakh crore by September 2025. S Alam Group withdrew over Tk 90,000 crore from the bank — more than half of total loan portfolio. The provision shortfall now approaches Tk 86,000 crore, large enough that Bangladesh Bank granted a 20-year deferral simply to keep the accounts presentable. The bank is being merged with other Shariah-based institutions as part of broader banking sector reform.
But none of those facts have changed in four days. The freeze did.
Why the Brokers’ Liquidity Argument Lands
The DBA’s strongest argument is structural rather than philosophical. When two of the exchange’s most-traded stocks freeze, the trading volume that would have flowed through them does not redistribute neatly across other names. Some of it simply disappears. Investors holding margin loans against frozen shares cannot exit, cannot rebalance, and watch negative equity accumulate as the broader market falls without them.
The Tk 6,300 crore market cap erosion, the six-session DSEX losing streak, the collapse of price discovery — all of it gets harder when the market’s two most-watched stocks are not allowed to trade. The brokers are arguing the floor is now contributing to the very instability it was designed to prevent.
What BSEC Has Not Said
Chairman Maqsood has not responded publicly. Historically the regulator has framed full floor removal as conditional on economic stabilisation. That framing leaves the question open: is Bangladesh stable enough now? The August 2024 reversal — lifting and reimposing Beximco’s floor in the same day — suggests the answer depends on who occupies the chairman’s office. Maqsood has so far chosen not to test it.
The brokers have just made it impossible to keep avoiding.
The Calculation BSEC Cannot Defer
The floor prices on Beximco and Islami Bank exist because BSEC believes their unrestricted trading would damage the market more than their freeze does. The brokers have called that calculation backwards. With Tk 6,300 crore lost, six straight sessions of decline, and margin loan equity dissolving against frozen collateral, the ledger is shifting. The next move belongs to BSEC — and what it answers will tell investors whether the post-2024 capital market is actually different from the one it replaced.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. The Dhaka Stock Exchange carries inherent risks. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult qualified financial advisors before making any investment decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.