A lower-limit transaction of one share concluded in premarket trading SK hynix(000660) was found to have triggered about 83 billion won in forced liquidations in the virtual asset (coin) futures market. As the fusion of stocks and coins accelerates, critics say a lax system can lead to market turmoil.
According to the financial sector on the 30th, at about 8 a.m. on the 28th, one share of SK hynix traded for 1,272,000 won on the premarket of the domestic alternative trading system (ATS) NEXTRADE (NXT). That was 29.99% lower than the previous day's closing price of 1,816,000 won and at the bottom of the price limit band.
The NXT premarket runs from 8 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. When bid and ask quotes match, a transaction is executed immediately. By design, when there are not many transactions, small orders can cause large price swings.
When the lower-limit transaction occurred and the share price plunged, the NXT system detected it and imposed a two-minute trading halt (dynamic VI). After that, in the domestic spot market, new buy orders flowed in and the price quickly returned to normal levels.
The problem is that the price that fell to the lower limit was reflected as-is in the price of leveraged futures products on overseas coin exchanges. On Hyperliquid, a decentralized exchange (DEX), the price of SK hynix leveraged futures plunged nearly 20% in an instant, from $1,127.90 to $917.25, and numerous investors with long positions were forcibly liquidated.
According to Blockchain data firm Allium, about $57.4 million (about 83 billion won) was forcibly liquidated on Hyperliquid in two minutes. The SK hynix reference price has now been normalized, and Tradexyz, the developer of Hyperliquid's SK hynix leveraged futures product, said it will fully compensate for losses from the forced liquidations.
Some suspect that a party with a large short position intentionally traded at the lower limit to push down SK hynix's price. A financial industry official said, "Unless the person expected massive profits from a drop in SK hynix's price, there seems to be no reason to trade just one share at the lower limit."