"If I Lose a Lump Sum, I'm Doomed... I Get Ahead of the Market on My Commute": 22 Trillion Won Trading Hands a Day

Nexttrade's Average Daily Trading Reaches 22 Trillion Won
Tripling from December Last Year
FOMO Sentiment and Global Response Demand
Pre-Market and After-Market Alone Near 6 Trillion Won

As the domestic stock market continues to soar, the number of investors trading stocks during their commute has been rising sharply.

Employees are working at Nekseuteureideu in Yeouido, Seoul. Yonhap News

According to Nexttrade on the 10th, the average daily transaction value last week, combining the pre-market, main market, and after-market, came to 21.9501 trillion won. This shows a continued upward trend from 7.0435 trillion won in December last year and 20.9019 trillion won last month.

In particular, the strong performance of the pre-market and after-market, which operate before and after regular trading hours, stood out. Last week, the average daily transaction value in these markets reached 5.6455 trillion won. For the pre-market, the average daily transaction value was 1.4669 trillion won in December last year, 4.5366 trillion won last month, and 5.2877 trillion won last week. For the after-market, it was 137.1 billion won in December last year, 315.6 billion won last month, and 357.8 billion won last week.

The increase in transaction value on Nexttrade is in line with the overall activation of trading across the market. The Korea Exchange's average daily transaction value rose from 25.8779 trillion won in December last year to 41.9701 trillion won in January this year and 43.0141 trillion won in February, an increase of about 66% in just two months. As the overall market size has expanded, the trading convenience offered by Nexttrade has come to the fore, accelerating the inflow of investors.

Behind the growth in off-hours trading is the spread of "FOMO (fear of missing out)" sentiment driven by the recent bull market, as well as the influx of office worker investors. In addition, given that the domestic market is heavily influenced by the New York stock market, demand from investors seeking to respond preemptively to global issues through the pre-market, which opens one hour earlier than the regular session, also appears to be a major driver of increased trading activity.

Paradoxically, however, the surge in trading volume is leading Nexttrade to adjust the number of stocks listed on its platform. This is because under the current Enforcement Decree of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act, the six-month average trading volume of an alternative trading system is not allowed to exceed 15% of that of the Korea Exchange. To prevent the possibility of breaching this limit, Nexttrade has moved to slow the pace by proactively suspending trading in certain stocks.

Nexttrade announced that, starting from the 12th, it will reduce the number of tradable stocks from the current 700 to 650. With this adjustment, a total of 50 stocks, including 15 from the KOSPI and 35 from the KOSDAQ, will be excluded from trade execution. A Nexttrade official explained that this is "part of our own efforts to comply stably with trading limits from February onward."

From the second half of this year, the Korea Exchange will also enter the off-hours trading market. The Korea Exchange is aiming to introduce pre-market and after-market sessions on June 29 and is pushing ahead with the phased establishment of a 24-hour trading system. Analysts say that longer trading hours will broaden investor choice and have a positive effect by increasing market liquidity.

Lee Hyoseop, a research fellow at the Korea Capital Market Institute, said, "Nexttrade, which is centered on individual investors, and the Korea Exchange, which is centered on institutional and foreign investors, will each generate synergies in their respective areas," adding, "It is expected to have a positive impact on the overall market in terms of creating new investment demand and enhancing liquidity."