Three out of 10 Korean retail investors holding SK hynix (000660.KS) shares bought the stock within the past month, data showed. Most of them aggressively purchased SK hynix and other market-leading stocks on the belief that the KOSPI would break through 9,000, but ended up in loss territory as volatility expanded.
According to Samsung Securities (016360.KS) on Wednesday, a total of 369,353 individual investors purchased SK hynix through the brokerage as of the settlement date of Tuesday, with an average holding period of four months. Among them, investors who held SK hynix for one month or less accounted for the largest share at 29%, followed by six months or less (22%), three months or less (20%), and one year or less (17%). Investors who held the stock for more than a year accounted for just 11%.
Working backward from the settlement date, investors with a holding period of one month or less bought between the 7th of last month and the 9th of this month. During this period, SK hynix shares hit their highest point on the 2nd of this month, reaching an intraday high of 2.36 million won. Given that the closing price on the 9th was 2.215 million won, the calculation shows that investors would be in profit territory only if they had not newly purchased SK hynix between the 27th of last month (2.243 million won) and the 4th of this month (2.298 million won).
Notably, despite SK hynix investors' average return of 181.65%, the proportion of investors in the red stood at a considerable 19%. This suggests that about 65% of new investors who held SK hynix for one month or less bought the stock near its all-time high.
Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) is in a similar situation. Among Samsung Securities clients, a total of 919,352 are Samsung Electronics investors. As Samsung Electronics is called a "national stock," investors who held it for more than a year accounted for the largest share at 38%, but those holding for one month or less also made up 15%. The proportion of investors in the red was 18%.
The period when new holders of SK hynix and Samsung Electronics bought their shares coincides with when the KOSPI rapidly rose past 7,000 to near 8,000, then plunged, before rebounding to near 9,000. An official in the financial investment industry interpreted, "A widespread 'FOMO' (fear of missing out) sentiment, driven by expectations that the KOSPI would surpass 9,000, fueled large-scale chase buying."
In fact, despite short purchase windows during which most top market-cap stocks could fall into loss territory, the proportion of investors in the red exceeded 10% for all of them. In the case of Samsung Electro-Mechanics (009150.KS), the period during which regular-session purchases could result in a loss was just two trading days—the 29th of last month and the 1st of this month, based on the settlement date of Tuesday—yet the proportion of investors in the red was 28%. Among Samsung Electro-Mechanics investors, the share of those with a holding period of one month or less reached 50%.
In addition, stocks that experienced prolonged price volatility showed higher proportions of investors in the red, regardless of their share price gains since the start of the year. Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) shares rose 115.5% from the start of the year through the 9th of this month. However, among Samsung Securities clients who invested in Hyundai Motor (239,040 investors), the proportion of those in the red was a staggering 41%. The proportion of investors in the red for LG Energy Solution (373220.KS), the sixth-largest by market cap, was 84%—the highest among the top 10 stocks—apparently due to the stock's sharp decline from its peak last year.
A brokerage official said, "This is statistics that best demonstrate the importance of phased buying," adding, "Since retail investors have limited available funds, they should avoid 'all-in betting' when volatility is high like now."
