KRX After-Market Records 1.1 Trillion Won in Daily Trading Value; Special Monitoring Task Force to Operate Through Year-End

[Financial News] The Korea Exchange will operate an After-Market Special Monitoring Task Force through year-end to prevent unfair trading on the KRX After-Market. During its first week, the After-Market's average daily trading value stood at 1.1 trillion won, equivalent to 4.6% of the regular session.
According to the KRX on the 21st, the KRX After-Market recorded an average daily trading volume of 54.85 million shares and trading value of 1.1 trillion won from the 14th to the 18th.
Individual investors accounted for 90.4% of the total trading value. Foreign investors and institutional investors accounted for 6.7% and 2.6%, respectively.
Actual trades were executed in 2,379, or 86.1%, of the 2,763 listed stocks. This was a significant increase from the approximately 600 stocks previously available for trading through alternative trading systems (ATSs). Stocks with notably low liquidity or those requiring market supervision were excluded from After-Market trading.
The KRX applies volatility interruption (VI) measures to the After-Market under the same standards as the regular session and operates a market maker system. The number of VI activations fell from 1,112 on the opening day to 553 on the 18th. However, considering that After-Market trading volume stands at 6.1% of the regular session's level, the figure is still slightly higher than the regular market's average of 494 daily VI activations this year.
High-low volatility, which measures the difference between the actual intraday high and low prices, remained lower than in the regular session for five consecutive trading days after the market opened. The average high-low volatility for KOSPI Composite Index stocks was 3.8% in the regular session and 2.1% in the After-Market. For KOSDAQ (Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) stocks, the figures were 5.4% and 3.5%, respectively.
The KRX's Market Surveillance Committee is expanding the hours for unfair-trading prevention measures in line with After-Market operations and launching an overnight surveillance system that integrates and analyzes trading data from the regular session and the After-Market.
The After-Market Special Monitoring Task Force, comprising nine personnel specializing in surveillance, prevention and short selling, will also operate through year-end. The KRX plans to extend the task force's operating period depending on market conditions and take firm action against unfair trading on the After-Market.

[email protected] Lee Jeong-hwa Reporter