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Wild stock market fluctuations give investors whiplash as fears of losses, missing out mount

Published: 11 Mar. 2026, 07:00

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 5,251.87 on March 9, down 333 points, or 5.96 percent, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Individual investors are reeling as Korea’s stock market keeps swinging wildly due to the Iran war, with sudden rallies and plunges rattling investor confidence.

Futures trading was temporarily halted on the buy side of the Kospi shortly after the market opened Tuesday as the benchmark index surged, according to the Korea Exchange.

The Kospi opened at 5,523.21 on Tuesday, jumping 271.34 points, or 5.17 percent, from the previous session. The Korea Exchange activated a buy-side sidecar at around 9:06 a.m., just six minutes into trading.

A sidecar halts program trading when certain market indexes fluctuate beyond a designated threshold.

Just a day earlier, on Monday, a sell-side sidecar was activated when the Kospi plunged more than 6 percent due to a spike in global oil prices stemming from fears that the Iran war may become prolonged.

The market’s sharp swings are causing many retail investors severe stress.

Smoke billows into the sky in Tehran on March 4. [UPI/YONHAP]

One office worker surnamed Lee invested 300 million won ($204,000) — money originally set aside for their child’s university tuition and a housing deposit — in a company listed on the Kosdaq market during the recent stock boom, only to see losses approach 70 percent.

“People who bought blue chip stocks are doing slightly better,” Lee said. “But Kosdaq retail investors are getting wiped out. A stock I bought for 5,000 won was cut in half and after the Iran war, it even nose-dived to the 1,000-won range.”

Another office worker, Myeong, has invested nearly all of their 150 million won of cash assets in stocks — expecting, or hoping, that the Kospi would surpass the 7,000 mark. Myeong canceled a subscription savings account worth 15 million won last month and took out a credit loan to increase investment funds. But a return that once reached 35 percent has dropped to a mere 5 percent after the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran.

“It feels like the steering wheel of the Kospi is in the hands of the Khamenei [Iran's ruling] family. I invested wedding gift money and retirement savings, so I’m very worried about taking losses,” Myeong said.

An online meme shows contrasting reactions to a 0.1 percent stock market swing. [SCREENSHOT]

Despite rising risks from market volatility, some investors are encouraging others to buy stocks, arguing that the downturn presents an opportunity and “the best discount sale.”

“Now is the cheapest time to buy Samnick,” wrote an online user in a popular stock investment community on Tuesday morning, using the slang portmanteau referring to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.

“If you just sit still, you fall behind people who make five or ten times their money through asset income and end up poor. A crash is the time to buy at the bottom,” said an investor named Hwang, who has invested 300 million won in the stock market for five years.

Some have, in fact, bet more than they have on the “discount.” Leveraged investment — commonly referred to as “debt investment,” or borrowing money to invest — has also surged to record levels.

An online meme showing that stocks are expected to plummet [SCREENSHOT]

Margin loans reached 33.2 trillion won on Wednesday and 33.7 trillion won on Thursday, both record highs, according to financial data. The figure represents an 87.1 percent increase from 18 trillion won in March last year, according to the Korea Financial Investment Association.

Margin loans allow individual investors to borrow funds from brokerage firms using their stocks as collateral. If share prices rise, investors can generate returns larger than their own capital. But if prices plunge and the collateral value falls below a certain level, brokerages can forcibly sell the shares to recover the loan.

As a result, excessive borrowing during periods of market volatility can lead to significant losses.

The number of active stock trading accounts has also been rising rapidly, surpassing 90 million in May last year and exceeding 100 million last month.

“In the era of the Kospi surpassing 5,000, many retail investors may be people who bought at the top,” said Koo Jeong-woo, a sociology professor at Sungkyunkwan University. “In trying to increase asset income, they could end up losing even their labor income due to anxiety, impatience and feelings of deprivation, so they should be careful not to be swept up in the mood.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY SON SUNG-BAE, KIM YE-JUNG [[email protected]]