Nextrade, South Korea's first alternative trading system (ATS), recorded annual trading volume of 47.3 billion shares and transaction value of 2,338 trillion won in its first year of operation. This represents 11.8% of domestic stock market trading volume and 28.8% of total transaction value.
According to Nextrade on the 4th, average daily transaction value in pre- and after-market sessions grew more than eightfold from 1.1 trillion won at launch to 8.9 trillion won recently. Nextrade now accounts for 38.9% of total average daily transaction value.
As of last month, an average of 2.42 million accounts participated in the Nextrade market daily. Pre-market and after-market sessions attracted 830,000 and 660,000 accounts, respectively.
Nextrade said the ATS launch has contributed to reducing trading costs for stock investors. With fees averaging 30% lower than Korea Exchange (KRX), the platform generated approximately 29.85 billion won in investor cost savings during its first year of operation.
The company attributed this to its departure from uniform fee structures by introducing differentiated maker-taker pricing.
The number of domestic securities firms participating in Nextrade increased from 19 at launch to 32 as of last month, representing 89% of the 36 domestic securities firms on Korea Exchange. While individual investors dominated at launch, foreign investor participation has grown to 13% as of last month.
Nextrade outlined this year's goals as developing differentiated services, expanding tradable products to global ATS standards including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), fractional investment, and security token offerings (STOs), and continuing to advocate for rationalized ATS regulations.
Among these initiatives, the company plans to launch ETF and fractional investment trading in the fourth quarter.
"We will continue to lead changes in the capital market and provide better services to investors, contributing to the expansion of global investment into Korea's capital market and the normalization process of the Korean capital market," said Kim Hak-soo, CEO of Nextrade.