A person surnamed Kim, an office worker in their 50s, recently terminated 50 million won in deposits saved to help a child prepare for dwellings and moved it to a stock account. Kim has been investing part of each month's salary in domestic large-cap stocks such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, and plans to further increase the share of stock investments going forward.
Kim said, "Not long ago, the return on Samsung Electronics shares surpassed 100%, so I sold some, and I'm disappointed as the price rose further," adding, "Judging this as the last chance to increase investment gains before retirement, I plan to diversify into exchange-traded funds (ETF) while using funds that had been put in deposits."
Since the new year, a full-fledged "money move" (fund shift) has emerged as funds that had stayed in bank savings and deposits are moving en masse to securities firms. About three months after the KOSPI topped the 4,000 level, it quickly broke through the 5,000 level, drawing more household funds into the stock market. Household funds waiting to purchase real estate are also flocking to the stock market.
According to the Korea Financial Investment Association on the 23rd, investor deposits stood at 96.3317 trillion won as of the 21st of this month. After reaching 92.8537 trillion won on the 8th and surpassing 90 trillion won, the total surged by more than 3 trillion won (3.7%) in just nine trading days.
Margin financing balances also increased by about 2 trillion won, from the 27 trillion-won range at the start of the year to 29.0821 trillion won as of the 21st. Margin financing is conducted by investors borrowing funds from securities firms to buy stocks. Typically, the larger the expectations that stock prices will rise and the desire to join a bull market, the more rapidly the scale tends to surge.
Conversely, the balance of demand deposits at the five major commercial banks — KB, Shinhan, Hana, Woori and NH Nonghyup — totaled 646.5254 trillion won as of the 15th, down 27.483 trillion won from the end of December last year (674.0084 trillion won). Demand deposits are deposits that can be withdrawn at any time by depositors and are classified as investment standby funds.
There are also projections that the outflow of bank savings and deposit funds could accelerate further as the domestic stock market's solid start to the year coincides with the money move. This is because tightened government regulations on real estate loans make it highly likely that funds unable to immediately proceed with dwellings purchases will flow into the stock market.
As the government strengthened real estate regulations, such as the total debt service ratio (DSR) and the reduction of the mortgage loan limit, both end users and investment demand are delaying the timing of real estate purchases. In this process, funds set aside for purchasing dwellings are moving to the stock market without finding suitable investment destinations.
An official at a securities firm said, "While watching the real estate market, individual funds are flowing into the stock market, which has relatively higher liquidity and higher expected returns, especially into large-cap blue chips."
In fact, the returns of individual investors who invested in large-cap stocks such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are estimated to be substantial. The two stocks have surged 180.48% and 234.81%, respectively, over the past year (Jan. 23, 2025–Jan. 22, 2026).
Hyundai Motor's share price has also jumped 80% this year alone. The stock soared after its robotics subsidiary Boston Dynamics unveiled the new humanoid robot "Atlas" at CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
There is also a view that the domestic stock market is moving away from a market swayed by short-term supply and demand and establishing a long-term investment environment with steady inflows through retirement pensions and ETFs. Domestic retirement pension reserves stood at 446 trillion won in the first half of last year, continuing double-digit annual growth. The domestic ETF net worth has also surged by more than 100 trillion won, from 222 trillion won six months ago to 325 trillion won as of the 21st.
Lee Jae-won and Noh Dong-gil, researchers at Shinhan Investment & Securities, said, "The growth of the retirement pension and ETF markets is turning the nature of funds in the domestic stock market into a long-term trend that is not swayed by short-term supply and demand," adding, "As ETF products diversify beyond index types into themes and monthly dividends, the KOSPI's demand-and-supply base is also becoming more solid."