It is not just a roller coaster, but an amplifier for everyone to participate.
The summer that is about to pass has seen extreme fluctuations in the Korean stock market. On August 12, due to a 5% increase in the KOSPI200 index futures and its sustained time limit, the exchange activated a temporary trading suspension mechanism, pausing programmatic trading. Just a week later, on August 19, the market triggered a sell-side circuit breaker mechanism due to a drop in futures, causing the KOSPI to experience a single-day decline of over 5%. This situation of repeated circuit breakers or circuit side triggers within a short time has occurred multiple times this year.
Earlier in mid-July, the situation was even more severe. According to the Financial Supervisory Service of Korea and related reports, by around July 13, over 1.2 million leveraged retail investor accounts across the market had hit the margin call line, equivalent to roughly 1 in every 30 adults facing additional margin pressure. Approximately 320,000 to 360,000 accounts were fully liquidated by brokers, wiping out all equity, and some accounts even showed negative balances owed to brokers. On one day, the forced liquidation scale reached several hundred billion won. Retail investors have a very high proportion in leveraged trading and are referred to by outsiders as "ant investors," concentrating their bets on Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, among other semiconductor-related targets.
These figures illustrate that the volatility of the Korean market is not just about index fluctuations, but also the actual gains and losses of numerous ordinary accounts. When the index rapidly rises, the number of accounts and the scale of leverage expand simultaneously; when the index retracts, margin calls and forced liquidations occur in a concentrated manner within a short time.
"Rookie Kim’s Stock Market Mission": Transforming Losses into a Watchable Process
On August 3, Netflix Korea launched "Rookie Kim’s Stock Market Mission." The program invites comedian Kim Won-hoon to truly enter the stock market for the first time, investing about 180 million won. Other comedians in the show provide "investment guidance" and set tasks and competitive segments. Kim Won-hoon stated in the show that he had already lost over 20 million won, "almost the value of a car."
The show focuses on Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. These two stocks reached historical highs in mid-2026 due to AI-related semiconductor demand, followed by a significant retraction in July. The program highlights the specific processes of buying, holding, losses, and adjustments, rather than merely explaining financial concepts. As of early August, the program has entered the top ranks of Netflix Korea's popular list.
Similar content has also quickly appeared on YouTube. Some comedians publicly share their experiences of holding Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix stocks, some document the entire process of buying stocks for the first time, while others share changes in daily expenditures after losses. The common characteristic of this content is: they do not avoid the figures of losses but present account changes, emotional fluctuations, and decision-making processes directly to the audience.
When a large number of ordinary people experience similar account fluctuations, the authentic process of losses itself has a high sense of empathy and watchability.
Why are Koreans so keen on stock trading?
Emotion indeed exists, but it is not the only reason. South Korea has a population of about 51 to 52 million, with the number of active stock accounts surpassing 100 million, averaging multiple accounts per person. The growth of minor accounts has also surged during certain periods. Retailers have long had a high proportion in leveraged trading.
High housing prices are an important backdrop. In some parts of Seoul, the price of apartments exceeds 2 billion won, and for ordinary workers with a monthly salary of several hundred thousand won, purchasing a home through savings alone would take decades. As a result, the stock market is viewed by some as another path outside of real estate. The semiconductor industry is highly concentrated, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix having significant weight and profit contributions in the KOSPI, while the AI demand cycle directly amplifies the volatility of these two stocks and the associated leveraged products.
Government policies also play a guiding role. In recent years, policies have encouraged companies to increase shareholder returns, reform related taxes, and direct some social capital into the stock market. Parents can enjoy gift tax benefits for transferring funds to the securities accounts of their minor children within a certain limit, further lowering the threshold for family-level market entry. These institutional arrangements, combined with the industrial cycle, have transformed "opening accounts and trading stocks" from a minority behavior into a broader social phenomenon.
Historically, Korean retail investors have also shown a high risk appetite. After the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and the global financial crisis in 2008, there are records of retail investors leveraging early to enter the market. This behavioral pattern reinforces the current leverage usage, but in a market with high industry concentration, once the underlying assets pull back, the impact on account levels can quickly expand.
Everything Can Be Variety: Participation, Competition, and Instant Feedback
The Korean entertainment industry has long excelled at transforming real events into watchable content. Political figures, fan interactions, daily life, and even fluctuations in the financial market can all become the protagonists of shows or short videos. The entry of stock market volatility into the content field is not a sudden phenomenon but an extension of the same logic.
The core of this logic is: participation, competition, emotion, ranking, and instant feedback. Variety shows let audiences see specific people making choices, bearing outcomes, and comparing with others; the stock market allows ordinary account holders to directly observe their gain and loss figures changing. Both provide quantifiable results and a discussable process. When a large number of people undergo similar account fluctuations simultaneously, making this process into a show, viewers feel, "this is what I am experiencing."
One of the core competitive advantages of Korean entertainment is transforming reality itself into content. It is not about having a complete script first for filming, but capturing social phenomena that are happening and structuring them through tasks, comparisons, and emotional expressions. The rise and fall of stocks, margin calls, forced liquidations, and changes in holdings naturally possess these elements. The program does not need to create additional conflicts; the account numbers themselves provide the conflict.
From the stock market to variety shows, it is actually the same thing. On the surface, one is a financial market and the other is an entertainment product; viewed together, they share a reliance on participation and instant feedback. This also explains why Korean entertainment can continuously generate topics: when there are enough shared experiences in reality, reality itself is the best material.
What this means for readers
The Korean case provides a clear observation window. When a market has high industry concentration, widespread leverage usage, and numerous ordinary accounts participating at the same time, index fluctuations will directly translate into large-scale gains and losses at the account level. These gains and losses then enter social media and content platforms, forming new discussions and emotional cycles.
Understanding this cycle helps distinguish between "market volatility" and "content amplification." The volatility itself is driven by industrial cycles, interest rates, liquidity, and leverage structures; content transforms these fluctuations into a watchable, discussable, and comparable process. Both reinforce each other but are not equivalent. For ordinary people, the changes in account numbers and the stories in the programs must be viewed within the specific context of funding structure, holding periods, and risk tolerance, rather than relying solely on emotions or rankings for judgments.
South Korea is turning public participation into content, and the stock market is just one of the most recent examples. The logic of participation, competition, emotion, ranking, and instant feedback explains both why a large number of ordinary people have entered the market and why these experiences can be quickly produced into consumable programs. Reality itself can indeed become content. However, the popularity of content does not change the real distribution of account gains and losses.
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