Main bourse operator faces challenges in extending trading hours

The Korea Exchange building in Seoul's financial district of Yeouido / Yonhap

The Korea Exchange (KRX) is considering longer trading hours for its stock exchanges, but the shift would require a substantial overhaul of the operational system it has had in place for decades, according to industry officials, Friday.

The KRX-governed benchmark KOSPI and secondary Kosdaq currently run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays.

The KRX wants to extend this window to 12 hours — from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. — in what is seen as a bid to grapple with faster-than-expected growth of Nextrade as the country’s first alternative stock exchange.

Nextrade, co-owned by the Korea Financial Investment Association and seven major securities firms, already accounts for more than 30 percent of the country’s entire stock trading volume since its launch on March 4.

The number of traded stocks also increased from 10 to more than 800, including top-performing companies on both the KOSPI and Kosdaq.

The pace of Nextrade’s growth was not widely anticipated after it started with the goal of breaking the KRX’s long-standing monopoly, in place since its launch in 1956.

Nextrade runs for 12 hours, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., including a premarket session from 8 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. and an after-market session from 3:40 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“The KRX is now benchmarking Nextrade’s operational hours, meaning the country’s alternative stock exchange is not a trivial competitor but a potential threat to shake up the KRX’s dominance,” said Jung Eui-jung, head of the Korean Stockholders' Alliance.

He said that Nextrade “has an edge” in terms of transaction fees, noting they are 20 to 40 percent lower than those of the KRX.

Asking not to be named, an analyst at a top brokerage house pointed out that Nasdaq is planning for 24-hour trading in the second half 2026 and therefore “longer trading hours are something that the KRX can’t overlook when considering the global market trend.”

Asked whether the KRX can successfully extend trading hours, Jung said labor issues pose “a significant challenge.”

He pointed to KRX union members expressing concern over a possible transition to a two-shift work system if trading hours are extended.

In a statement this week, the union argued that “unilateral extension of trading hours without consultation is feared to put securities industry workers’ labor conditions at risk.”

“The KRX employees will ask for higher wages and other benefits if their workloads increase, which, in turn, can put a burden on the KRX’s profitability,” Jung said.

With regard to transaction fees, Jung noted lowering the rate will not be easy.

He noted the KRX collected 483.7 billion won ($351 million) in fees in 2024, which was worth about 40 percent of its operating profit in the same year.

“It is just not a matter of extending trading hours, but a broader matter of overhauling the operational system, which will not be easy in a short period of time,” Jung said.