Plunge, Bottom-Fishing, Rebound, Exit: Korean Retail Investors Sell ₩5.1 Trillion in Two Days, Missing Out on Samsung and SK Hynix Surge

According to a report by Jinse Finance, after the South Korean stock market experienced a "Black Monday" followed by a rapid rebound, individual investors who had aggressively bottom-fished semiconductor leaders faced a scenario of "plunge, bottom-fishing, rebound, exit." Data from the Korea Exchange shows that Korean retail investors collectively purchased approximately ₩3.89 trillion worth of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix shares, with net purchases of ₩1.10 trillion for Samsung Electronics and ₩2.79 trillion for SK Hynix. On the day of the plunge, the stock prices of the two companies fell by 10.7% and 15.37%, respectively, as retail investors absorbed the shares sold off by foreign and institutional investors. However, as semiconductor stocks rebounded, retail investors quickly turned into sellers. Over the course of October 14 and 15, individual investors sold ₩1.45 trillion worth of Samsung Electronics shares and ₩3.70 trillion worth of SK Hynix shares, with a combined net sell-off totaling ₩5.15 trillion. Data indicates that the estimated average purchase price for Samsung Electronics shares on October 13 was approximately ₩261,700, while the average selling price over the next two days was around ₩259,400. For SK Hynix, the average purchase price was approximately ₩1,938,500, and the average selling price was around ₩1,849,300. Based on the shares purchased on October 13, retail investors incurred an overall loss of approximately ₩138.2 billion. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics rose by approximately 9.8% cumulatively on October 14 and 15, and SK Hynix surged by about 12.8% over the same period. However, due to the significant bottom-fishing funds being sold off during the early stages of the rebound on October 14, retail investors failed to fully benefit from the subsequent upward trend.