On the first day of the alternative trading system (ATS) NextTrade's expansion to 350 transaction listings, stock prices fluctuated significantly due to low transactions in the pre-market (Pre-Market, 8 a.m. to 8:50 a.m.).
Shares of SK hynix, which became eligible for trading on NextTrade, saw 131 shares traded at 8 a.m. on the 24th. Among these, 50 shares were traded at 201,000 won, down by 6.73% (14,500 won) from the previous trading day. A total of 10.5 trillion won in market capitalization evaporated in an instant. Ultimately, the volatility interrupt mechanism (VI) was triggered, halting trading, and after that, the price drop stabilized at around 1% from 8:04 a.m.
HLB, which had been shaken by the aftermath of not receiving approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for item licensing, appeared to surge as soon as the pre-market opened, with 60 shares trading at 60,400 won, which was 23% (11,300 won) higher than the previous trading day's closing price. After the VI release, the stock price plummeted to 45,150 won.
On that day, there were instances where transactions surged and plummeted after just one share was executed. Lotte Shopping traded at 55,500 won at 8:02 a.m., which was down 15.14% (9,900 won) from the previous trading day's closing price. Afterward, the drop narrowed to about 0.15% (100 won).
In contrast, TEMC saw its stock price rise 26.1% (2,060 won) to 9,950 won immediately after the pre-market opened, triggering the VI. The closing price quickly narrowed to a difference of around 0.1% from the previous trading day's closing price. Similarly, NEPES saw its stock price briefly rise 10.1% (790 won) with just one transaction before returning to its previous level.
According to NextTrade, during the pre-market transactions from the 5th to the 20th, there were 18 instances in 14 stocks where initial prices hit the upper and lower limits (price restriction thresholds). An investor submitted 10 buy orders at the upper limit and sell orders at the lower limit for one share each for seven different stocks between the 18th and 20th.
In response, NextTrade decided to strengthen its own monitoring to prevent intentional upper and lower limit issues, and to collaborate with participating securities firms and the Korea Exchange Market Surveillance Committee; however, similar issues reoccurred.
Starting this day, all stocks included in the KOSPI 200 Index and the KOSDAQ 150 Index became available for trading on NextTrade. Among the newly available transaction stocks, PharmaResearch is designated as an investment caution stock, and trading is restricted until the designation is lifted.
With large stocks including Samsung Electronics joining, the transaction volume soared. The transaction volume in the pre-market that day was 130.8 billion won, compared to less than 10 billion won last week, marking a tenfold increase.
The largest transaction volume was 27.6 billion won for HLB, followed by Samsung Electronics, Hanwha Aerospace, SK hynix, Hanwha Systems, Doosan Enerbility, and Hanwha Ocean.