Stock trading fever grips Koreans morning and night in bull market
Employees monitor after-hours trading activity at Nextrade’s control room in Seoul, March 4, 2025, following the launch of Korea’s first alternative trading system. Newsis
Lim, a 40-year-old office worker living in Incheon, recently increased his stock trading activity in pre- and after-hours markets amid a sharp rally in domestic shares.
“Before heading to work, I buy stocks in the premarket that react to overnight moves in U.S. markets and major news. After work, I review earnings-related stocks in the after-hours market,” he said. “My response speed has become much faster than when I invested only during regular trading hours.”
Online investment communities also suggest that off-hours trading has become routine. One user recently posted that he made short-term gains by buying SK hynix shares in the after-hours market immediately after the company released its earnings results, which sent the stock sharply higher.
“Even if a stock has already risen significantly during regular trading, after-hours markets allow you to react quickly when you believe there is still upside potential,” the user wrote.
As Korea’s stock market surged past the 5,000-point mark on the benchmark KOSPI and the 1,000-point level on the tech-heavy secondary Kosdaq bourse, pre- and after-hours trading has jumped sharply, reflecting growing investor appetite beyond regular trading sessions.
According to Nextrade, average daily turnover in pre- and after-hours markets totaled nearly 10 trillion won ($6.8 billion) over the seven trading days from Jan. 22 to 29, up sharply from around 2 trillion won a day at the end of last year.
Trading volume peaked at an all-time high of 16.3 trillion won on Jan. 20, two days before the KOSPI reached 5,000 points intraday, and remained elevated on Jan. 28 and 29, when turnover topped 12 trillion won and 11 trillion won, respectively.
Nextrade, Korea’s first alternative trading system launched in March last year, operates for 12 hours a day, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., including a premarket session from 8 a.m. to 8:50 a.m. and an after-hours session from 3:40 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Market watchers attribute the surge in off-hours trading largely to a spike in retail investors piling into these sessions after confirming upward momentum during regular trading hours.
Shares of heavyweight companies, including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, have also continued to set new highs outside regular trading hours, underscoring how pre- and after-hours markets are increasingly being used to gauge investor expectations.
Investor appetite was particularly evident on Jan. 28, when SK hynix attracted strong buying momentum in after-hours trading following an earnings surprise.
The boom in off-hours trading has translated into a sharp increase in commission income for Nextrade. The platform recorded total trading value of about 399 trillion won in January alone, implying monthly fee revenue of about 5.3 billion won based on its 0.00134 percent fee for limit orders.
“Stronger market conditions have lifted overall trading activity,” a Nextrade official said. “Investor composition has also diversified since the platform’s launch, with a growing number of foreign investors joining retail traders.”
In response to the rapid expansion of off-hours trading, the Korea Exchange is moving ahead with a plan to extend daily trading hours to 12 hours. Trading days will run from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., starting in June, beyond the regular trading hours of 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., to better reflect changing investor behavior.