"Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix Is Too Obvious" Hunting for Hidden Mid- and Small-Cap Stocks in the Dirt, Down 27%... Frustrated 'Hongdae-byung Investors' [World of Retail Investors]

I'm already down 27%.
" Office worker Shin Myeong-cheol, 35, a pseudonym, clicked 'like' after reading a post on a stock community because it felt all too familiar.As the KOSPI raced toward historic highs and Samsung Electronics and SK hynix set new record after new record, dominating the market, he too had missed out on the so-called 'Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix' rally because of his Hongdae syndrome.Shin said he thought the right time to look for 'hidden gems' was when everyone else was buying Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.
He invested in a mid- and small-cap materials stock he had discovered on his own.
I'm already down 27%.I'm already down 27%.
But while Samsung Electronics and SK hynix kept climbing, Shin's stock plunged."It has to be a stock only I know".the market-defying 'snob effect' As the stock market has recently shown an extreme split, with heat concentrated only in large-cap leaders, complaints from retail investors who have willingly isolated themselves through 'stock Hongdae syndrome' can often be found on stock communities and social network service (SNS) platforms.Hongdae syndrome originally refers to the mindset of deliberately avoiding what most people like and instead pursuing something unique that only one knows about.In the stock market, it usually refers to the act of seeking out 'stocks only I know' instead of safe blue chips because people believe that "large-cap stocks are too heavy to rise much" and "there is nothing left to eat at a feast everyone already knows about.
" In behavioral economics, this desire to stand apart from the crowd is explained as 'Need for uniqueness' or 'Snob Effect.' It is a cognitive bias in which the more the public rushes into a certain product or asset, the more one devalues that asset and seeks a sense of superiority in a niche area that others cannot easily enter.The trap of a liquidity black hole and neglected stocks The problem is that capital markets do not respect a person's need for uniqueness at all.For stock prices to rise, large amounts of money, or liquidity, must flow in.In a market like the current one, where foreign investors and institutions are concentrating funds only in large semiconductor names and leading sectors, out-of-favor small caps can easily fall into a 'vanishing trading volume' state, where buying interest disappears completely.Experts warn that there was a time when investing in so-called 'Neglected stocks' could be a useful strategy.But neglected stocks can fall much harder than large caps when the market turns down, and they may become trapped in a liquidity exclusion zone, where they are thoroughly ignored during rebounds.
I'm already down 27%.I'm already down 27%.
'In the 8,000-point era,' only 77 of 920 stocks rose This bull market has been especially harsh on Hongdae-byung investors.
On the 27th, when the KOSPI broke above the 8,200 level for the first time in history, the market's bias toward semiconductors became even stronger.Only 77 of the 920 stocks in the KOSPI advanced.That means 826 stocks fell.
I'm already down 27%.I'm already down 27%.
Given the recent rally, concerns that these are 'stocks everyone is buying' and that they have already risen too far are losing force.
8 million won, said, "The current memory chip market conditions are only at the 5-kilometer mark of a marathon" and added that "there is still plenty of room for further gains.
I'm already down 27%.I'm already down 27%.
bng@fnnews.com Kim Hee-sun Reporter