On average, South Koreans hold more than two stock accounts per person; as foreign investors sell in the South Korean stock market, retail investors are increasing leverage to buy in.

Glonghui, June 27 – According to CCTV Finance, the South Korean stock market has repeatedly reached new highs recently, with the Korea Composite Stock Price Index nearly doubling since the beginning of the year. However, just yesterday (26th), the Korea Composite Index experienced an intraday plunge of over 8%, triggering the circuit breaker mechanism for the second time this week. Within just one week, the South Korean stock market has gone through two "roller coaster" sessions, attracting attention from global markets. Data shows that retail investors account for an exceptionally high proportion of trading in South Korea. As of June 24, the total number of domestic stock trading accounts in South Korea reached 108.77 million, while the country’s population is only just over 50 million, meaning that on average, each person holds more than two stock accounts. Moreover, large amounts of funds are flowing in through high-leverage ETFs. Last week, the US Federal Reserve's shift to a more hawkish monetary policy directly suppressed the highly valued technology sector. According to a report from JPMorgan, net foreign capital outflow from the South Korean stock market has reached approximately 95 billion US dollars so far this year. At the same time, retail investors have accumulated net purchases of about 80 billion US dollars this year, becoming the main driving force supporting the market. This pattern of “foreign investors selling while retail investors take over with leverage” makes the market highly susceptible to forced liquidation during volatile periods, which can partly undermine the effectiveness of the pricing mechanism.