"It's Not as Fun as It Used to Be"...Retail Investors Weary of the KOSPI Stuck Below 7,000 [World of Retail Investors]
- Input
- 2026-09-01 05:00:00
- Updated
- 2026-09-01 05:00:00
Office worker A, 37, has recently been opening his brokerage app far less often. Just a few months ago, he would check it hundreds of times a day, following not only the main session but also the pre-market and after-hours sessions.Now, he says, even keeping up with it feels like a chore. "I feel like I should be doing something, but even when I open the app, I don't know what to do," A said.00%. /Yonhap News Agency [Financial News] #.
"It's not just about profits. Compared with the first half of this year, it's not as fun as it used to be.
00%. /Yonhap News Agency [Financial News] #." Trading value at a yearly low, turnover also at a low According to a 2022 report by the Korea Capital Market Institute titled 'Behavioral Biases and Trading Patterns of Domestic Retail Investors,' "the higher the market return in the previous period, the greater the trading volume of retail investors. Read in reverse, this means that when returns are weak or the market moves sideways, retail investors reduce trading and leave the market.
That is exactly the situation now. " The KOSPI, once nicknamed 'roller KOSPI' for its sharp swings, is becoming calmer.However, as volatility eases and the market becomes trapped in a narrow range, retail investors are leaving faster. 57568 trillion won, both falling to their lowest levels of the year.68744 trillion won. The listed stock turnover rate, an indicator of how actively stocks are traded, also fell to its lowest point this year.
4 out of every 1,000 listed shares changed hands each day. Investor deposits are also shrinking again.
7091 trillion won as of the 28th of last month. That means the pool of money waiting to be invested in domestic stocks has declined.
It is a sign that more retail investors like A are standing on the sidelines, unsure of where to go next. Where are retail investors heading? Deposits and U.
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S. stocks What has further dampened sentiment in this sideways market is interest rates.
00%. /Yonhap News Agency [Financial News] #.0% a year. It was the second straight monthly increase after July, and not only domestic brokerages but also global investment bank JPMorgan Chase are predicting another hike.
That suggests rates could rise further. By contrast, the top rates on time deposits at commercial banks have been quietly rising.85% a year. That is why retail investors are joking that there are "such good-value products that even if you just leave your money there, you can earn more than 3% interest without any losses." A view of an ATM at a commercial bank in Seoul. /News 1 Against this backdrop, the time deposit balance at the country's five major commercial banks surpassed 1,000 trillion won for the first time ever.349 trillion won. As sentiment weakens in a sideways market, money is moving into relatively safer deposit products, a phenomenon described as a reverse money move.Another destination for investor sentiment is U. S.
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S. stocks in August.Retail investors briefly turned to net selling in April and May, but have now posted net buying for three consecutive months since June. In this regard, Park Sang-hyun, a researcher at iM Securities, said, "Lower foreign exchange conversion costs will act as a catalyst to expand so-called Western retail investor buying." He added, "As domestic investors, worn out by rising volatility in the local stock market centered on semiconductor shares, move into U. S.
stocks, a decline in the KRW/USD exchange rate could further reinforce that trend. " Heo Jae-hwan, a researcher at Eugene Investment & Securities, also said, "Corporate earnings have risen sharply this year compared with last year, but the pace of growth is expected to slow from next year.
" He added, "If the June peak in the KOSPI already reflected much of next year's earnings, expectations for further gains will be limited, making it more likely that the index will remain stuck in a range again. " I don't want to become one of those people who keep saying, 'I should have bought, I should have sold, I should have held.
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' But today, once again, it feels like everyone else is doing fine with stocks, real estate and wealth-building strategies without me.The world of investing is hard no matter how much you study, and we welcome readers who want to clap along and relate.[World of Retail Investors] If you want to receive it more conveniently, please subscribe to the reporter page.We are also looking for tips from retail investors who have investment stories they would like to share.
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