In the first week after the launch of Korea's first alternative trading system (ATS), NextTrade (NXT), individual investors actively engaged in transactions, accounting for nearly 98% of the total trading volume. Some stocks in the KOSDAQ market, such as Dongkook Pharmaceutical, had a significant share of individual transactions on NXT.
According to NXT, the total transaction amount from the 4th to 7th of this month was recorded at 79.9 billion won. Of this, the amount from individual transactions reached 78.19 billion won, accounting for 97.85% of the total. Institutions recorded 1.25 billion won (1.58%), while foreigners accounted for 460.2 million won (0.58%).
By trading time, the main market (from 9 a.m. to 3:20 p.m.) had the largest transaction volume at 44.1 billion won (55.18%). The after-market (from 3:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.) and pre-market (from 8 a.m. to 8:50 a.m.) transaction volumes were recorded at 19.03 billion won (23.82%) and 16.78 billion won (44.82%), respectively. The combined transaction volume of the pre- and after-market accounted for 44.82% of the total, and the NXT's share compared to the Korea Exchange's transaction volume (236.3 billion won) was 33.82%.
Among the stocks, Dongkook Pharmaceutical had the highest transaction volume at 1.37 million shares. Following were YG Entertainment (504,461 shares), LG Uplus (500,239 shares), SFA Engineering Corporation (210,296 shares), and Kolon Industries (113,943 shares). Stocks with a significant transaction volume on NXT compared to the Korea Exchange included Dongkook Pharmaceutical (88.31%), YG Entertainment (42.29%), and GOLFZON (39.98%).
In particular, transactions of KOSDAQ-listed stocks such as Dongkook Pharmaceutical, YG Entertainment, and GOLFZON were largely dominated by individuals. Jeon Gyun, a researcher at Samsung Securities, noted, "The transaction share of individual investors in the KOSDAQ market is relatively high, and most of them have chosen the smart order routing (SOR) system for optimal execution."
The securities industry predicted that NXT has established itself in its first week and has significant growth potential in the future.
Shin Min-seop, a researcher at DS Investment & Securities, said, "The use of alternative trading systems will increase after public disclosures from domestic corporations during regular trading hours. As a result of the duty for optimal execution, competition over fees will intensify, and if investors find it more affordable to use alternative trading systems, there is a considerable potential for increased market share of alternative trading systems."