Kiwoom Securities, First Securities Firm to Establish Proprietary Automated Order Transmission System

Kiwoom Securities has become the first securities firm to establish its own ‘Smart Order Routing (SOR)’ system. Having maintained the number one market share in domestic stock brokerage for 20 consecutive years, Kiwoom Securities is expected to solidify its position even after the launch of alternative trading venues by providing convenient services to individual investors.

Kiwoom Securities announced on the 7th that it has completed stability testing of its self-developed SOR system and is ready to operate it in line with the launch of NextTrade. Among domestic securities firms, Kiwoom Securities is the only one to have built an SOR system.

NextTrade, the first alternative trading venue in Korea, will begin trading on the 4th of next month. Alongside the Korea Exchange, it will form a multi-exchange system, requiring securities firms to fulfill their best execution obligation by submitting customer orders to the most favorable exchange. This involves considering factors such as price and transaction costs.

The core tool for implementing the best execution obligation is the SOR system. The SOR system analyzes market conditions of each exchange to select the best exchange and allocate orders for execution.

Kiwoom Securities embarked on developing its own SOR system based on the IT expertise and know-how it has accumulated in the retail sector. It is the first securities firm to complete the system build.

Kiwoom Securities strived to create a system differentiated from other SORs by enhancing personalized customization features. Customers can choose various investment options according to their investment strategies. For example, they can select the exchange where orders will be executed based on the trading execution method.

Not only is the SOR system configured with redundancy, but it is also built as a ledger-linked system to ensure trading stability by allowing orders to be sent to designated exchanges even in the event of system failures.

A Kiwoom Securities official explained, “We will do our best to create an environment where customers can invest more conveniently and stably despite changes in trading methods and hours following the launch of alternative trading venues.”