Alternative trading system (ATS) Nextrade will additionally halt transactions for 66 stocks. To comply with regulations, it plans to keep the number of tradable stocks around 650 going forward.
Nextrade said on the 18th that, starting on the 22nd of this month, 11 stocks on the main board and 55 stocks on the Kosdaq market will be excluded from the list of stocks for transactions. As a result, the number of stocks available for transactions will decrease from 716 to 650.
The stocks for which transactions will be suspended are 11 Kospi names, including Sejin Heavy Industries, STX Engine, Daehan Shipbuilding, Korea Circuit, SOLUM, WOOJIN, DB HiTek, Samwha Capacitor, LG CNS, DI, and TYM, and 55 Kosdaq names, including Oriental Precision & Engineering, ZENIX Robotics, and WONIK HOLDINGS.
The Enforcement Decree of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Markets Act stipulates that an alternative trading system's average daily transaction volume over the past six months must not exceed 15% of the Korea Exchange (KRX) average daily transaction volume.
Facing the first application date on the 30th, Nextrade sequentially suspended transactions for 79 stocks starting on the 20th of last month. With this, as transaction volume and the ratio of volume relative to the exchange market fell, it expected to comply with the regulatory ratio as of the end of this month (April–September).
However, it said compliance with the ratio may be difficult after October, so it has taken preemptive action. When calculating the transaction volume ratio, the past six months are measured based on the last day of each month; as months with low volume (April–May) are excluded and months with high volume (June–July) are included, it saw a possibility that the volume ratio could rise.
A Nextrade official said, "For long-term, stable operations and to enhance reliability, the need to maintain the stability of tradable stocks is increasing rather than making frequent changes," adding, "We will build a system to forecast the volume ratio, monitor the expected end-of-month ratio daily, and take preemptive measures when necessary."