"I Feel Like I’m Going to Get Motion Sickness" — Down 9% in a Day, Then Rebound 5%... Will Only Cash-Hoarding Retail Investors Survive? [World of Retail Investors]

The product tracks the daily moves of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix at twice the rate. The photo shows the ETF trading on the morning of that day.
27. /Photo=Newsis [Financial News]  #1.J, a 37-year-old office worker, could hardly believe his eyes while reading market news at the office on the morning of the 23rd. The day before, he had added more SK hynix shares after news broke that the company had overtaken Samsung Electronics to become the No.1 stock by market capitalization on the KOSPI for the first time in 25 years and seven months. But within a day, the KOSPI was plunging more than 6%, and the 8,500 level had collapsed.The product tracks the daily moves of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix at twice the rate. The photo shows the ETF trading on the morning of that day.The product tracks the daily moves of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix at twice the rate. The photo shows the ETF trading on the morning of that day.
42% and checking his returns with relief, B turned his phone off entirely when he heard on the 26th that a circuit breaker mechanism had been triggered. He said he had studied hard, from candlesticks and bullish and bearish candles to how to read charts and financial statements, but concluded that none of it mattered in the face of such unpredictable volatility.
"Even a roller coaster would move less than this" — What happened this week? This week’s KOSPI volatility was enough to put any roller coaster to shame. On Monday, the 22nd, SK hynix overtook Samsung Electronics to become the top company by market capitalization, fueling hopes that the semiconductor rally would continue.99%, marking its biggest drop on record. Then on the 24th, the index rebounded more than 3% from the previous day’s plunge and recovered the 8,400 level.42%, from the previous day. But on the 26th, news that Apple would raise product prices because of memory chip shortages was interpreted as a sign of weakening semiconductor demand, triggering both a sell sidecar and a circuit breaker mechanism.
The product tracks the daily moves of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix at twice the rate. The photo shows the ETF trading on the morning of that day.The product tracks the daily moves of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix at twice the rate. The photo shows the ETF trading on the morning of that day.
KOSPI volatility index breaks all-time high in a seesaw market As the market continued to swing wildly, the KOSPI 200 Volatility Index (VKOSPI), often called Korea’s fear gauge, has also been surging day after day. 81, the highest level since the Korea Exchange began officially publishing the index on April 13, 2009.
VKOSPI is an indicator of expected future volatility. It is calculated using information embedded in options prices and reflects investors’ expectations for market volatility over the next 30 days.
It usually rises when the KOSPI falls sharply, but even when it rises during a bull market, it is interpreted as a sign that short-term overheating is increasing investor anxiety. A level of 20 to 30 is generally seen as stable, while anything above 50 is considered an extreme fear zone.
The product tracks the daily moves of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix at twice the rate. The photo shows the ETF trading on the morning of that day.The product tracks the daily moves of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix at twice the rate. The photo shows the ETF trading on the morning of that day.25 this month. The interpretation is that market anxiety has deepened every time the KOSPI has swung sharply.What retail investors should do over the weekend when volatility is overwhelming them The real reason individual investors are suffering is not the decline in stock prices itself, but the unpredictability. The prevailing view is that the flood of high-volatility products, including 2x leveraged and inverse ETFs targeting Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, has further intensified concentration in the index and amplified volatility.
What first looks like good news, such as rising semiconductor prices improving earnings, can flip overnight into bad news if a major company announces price hikes, with the market’s interpretation changing in a single day. In a market that keeps rising and falling like this, emotionally drained individual investors often end up making their worst decisions at the worst possible time.It creates an environment where they are easily trapped in a vicious cycle of buying when prices fall and selling when they rise. That is why it is important not to be swept away by a market that has reached extreme volatility.Over the weekend, investors should first check their account’s margin availability and cash balance ratio. This is to avoid the risk of a forced sale of securities, where stocks are sold automatically against the investor’s will in a market where the index can move 5% to 6% in a single day.The first priority is to see whether the maintenance margin can be sustained even if the market falls further, and how much spare cash remains to turn a crisis into an opportunity. It is also important to set clear buy and sell rules before the market opens.Making a plan in advance, such as deciding to buy semiconductor stocks in stages if they fall by a certain percentage after Monday’s open, or to secure cash at a certain level above the average purchase price during a rebound, can help prevent impulsive trading.
The product tracks the daily moves of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix at twice the rate. The photo shows the ETF trading on the morning of that day.The product tracks the daily moves of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix at twice the rate. The photo shows the ETF trading on the morning of that day.
bng@fnnews.com Kim Hee-sun Reporter