KSPI Falls for 7 Straight Sessions... "Missed the Timing to Cut Losses"

[Anchor]

The KOSPI, which has fallen for seven consecutive trading sessions, has plunged by about 21% compared to just before. Samsung Electronics has seen 24% of its market capitalization evaporate, while SK Hynix has lost 31%.

Reporter Hong Yeongjae has the details.

[Reporter]

Individual investors let out sighs as they looked at their accounts dyed blue with losses.

[Kwon Hyun-min / Yangcheon-gu, Seoul: I hold Samsung Electronics and SK Square. They dropped a lot this morning. I woke up at 8 a.m. and watched from 8 o'clock. My heart felt heavy and choked up.]

Since October 6, the drop in the KOSPI has reached 21%. In particular, top market cap giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have plummeted by 24% and 31%, respectively.

Investors are agonizing, saying the drops happened so fast that they even missed the right timing to cut their losses.

[Choi Su-jung / Yangcheon-gu, Seoul: Jensen Huang came, and I made my choice after seeing that. Everyone kept talking about semiconductors. I am not planning to cut my losses. (Is it because the drop is too big?) Yes, it is big. That is also a big factor. I just cannot cut my losses.]

Because volatility had been subsiding following regulations on single-stock leverage ETFs, the sudden plunge is even more baffling.

The Kospi 200 Volatility Index, often referred to as the "Korean fear gauge," recorded its third-largest surge ever, closing at its highest level in a month and a half.

[Individual Investor: My mother invested in Hynix and was completely ruined. She used to invest in Bitcoin, but she said, "Taking all that out and putting it into stocks turned out even worse." She probably won't be able to withdraw her money until she averages down and eventually makes a profit.]

Damages are also growing for individual investors who traded on borrowed money.

Reactions online have poured in, with some saying they lost the will to work or that keeping money in savings accounts would have been much more comfortable.

With Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix having finished buying back their own shares, and the National Pension Service reportedly lacking the capacity for additional purchases due to the suspension of its first-half rebalancing, anxiety is spreading among investors as the bottom remains out of sight.

(Video reporting: Choi Ho-jun | Video editing: Jeon Mingyu | Design: Park Cheon-woong)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.