[Asia Economy Reporter Myunghwan Lee] Kakao Pay Securities announced on the 30th that it has launched a fractional trading service for overseas stocks, allowing investments from 1,000 KRW in near real-time.
The fractional trading of overseas stocks, which started on the 28th, can be used directly within the stock service of the Kakao Pay app without the need for a separate app or additional account opening, and is currently being applied sequentially to Kakao Pay app users.
Kakao Pay Securities explained that even when investing in fractions, they approached the service to provide an environment as close as possible to investing in whole shares (one share) units. They differentiated the service by building an environment where users can conveniently trade fractional amounts anytime they want.
Near real-time trading is also possible. Until now, fractional investments were only allowed once per day, but they have independently built a system that quickly processes users' orders by aggregating them, the first of its kind in Korea. This allows small investors to invest in stocks according to market price movements in fractional units and build diversified portfolios.
Overseas fractional stock trading allows users to easily place orders by entering quantity or amount up to 30 minutes before the regular market closes. Currency exchange procedures are not required. Automatic currency exchange is applied through integrated margin, enabling convenient purchase of U.S. stocks in fractional units using held KRW. The inconvenience of having to separate accounts or choose between whole share orders and fractional orders has been improved, allowing free trading with a single account.
Transaction fees and currency exchange fees will be free until the 30th of next month. After the free period, fractional trading fees will be applied the same as general overseas stock trading fees.
At the initial stage of the fractional trading service, 24 major U.S. stocks such as Tesla, Disney, Netflix, Google, Microsoft, and Starbucks can be traded fractionally. The list of fractional trading stocks will gradually expand.
A Kakao Pay Securities official stated, "From the start, we thought differently to allow users to invest in overseas blue-chip stocks in a way that suits them perfectly," adding, "We enhanced fairness so that even relatively expensive overseas blue-chip stocks can be invested in by anyone under equal conditions."
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