That 3 p.m. deadline on smartphones

A 27-year-old Lee, who is an economic student at a private university in Seoul, gets his concentration straight when 3 p.m. approaches. That’s the closing hour os the Korea Exchange where he does his stock trading.

Graduation is around the corner but he has been unable to get a job and half of the five million won he received from his parents for the final semester has been lost in the stock market.

“I have been told that I can make some of the money back with the right timing on trading on my smartphone. While the risk was high, I had to take my chances,” he explained.

The number of students picking up huge losses from investing in stocks has been rising. They can place trading orders using their smartphones anywhere they are but timing is the most important thing and they take only a couple of clicks.

Owing to the simplicity of the trading, many students do it even when they are in lectures. There are 61 securities companies who operate mobile trading system which makes this possible.

For a 25-year-old Ha, a junior at another private university in Seoul, everything is associated to stock trading. It is all about when stocks are up and when they are up.

Experts say there is a problem with students having access to stock trading wherever they are despite the fact that they don’t really have the financial resources. Worse, it is getting in the way of their education.