South Korean stock exchange KOSPI crashes 8.95% after circuit breaker

The South Korean stock market is having a tough day. On 13 July, the KOSPI Composite Index closed at 6,806.93 points, a loss of 8.95%. Midway through the trading session, a circuit breaker was activated, temporarily halting trading. Chip giant SK Hynix felt the blow particularly hard and plunged 15.37% to 1,845,000 South Korean won. That is a decline of around 38% from the intraday record the stock reached on 25 June. Meanwhile, volumes on South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges are exploding.

Circuit breaker halts trading on the stock exchange

A circuit breaker is an emergency measure that is automatically triggered when a market falls too quickly. On the KOSPI this happened on 13 July, after which the index closed with a loss of nearly 9%. That is one of the heaviest trading days in recent memory for the South Korean market.

SK Hynix, one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies, is one of the biggest victims of the price drop. The stock lost 15.37% in a single session and was quoted at 1,845,000 KRW at market close. The 38% retreat from the June peak shows how quickly sentiment can shift in the technology sector.

Crypto volumes on Upbit and Bithumb surge

While the stock market is collapsing, the crypto market in South Korea is showing a strikingly different picture. According to data from CoinGecko, Upbit, the country’s largest crypto exchange, recorded a trading volume of approximately $4.23 billion in the past 24 hours. That is a surge of 550.3% compared with the previous day. South Korean crypto exchanges had seen volumes decline in recent weeks, making this spike all the more notable.

Bithumb, the second-largest exchange, also saw a sharp increase in activity. The platform booked around $785 million in volume, a rise of 324.4%. The strong increase suggests that investors are moving to crypto as an alternative when the stock market falls, or are seizing on volatility to capitalise on price movements. Whether you want to trade on a crypto exchange or simply keep an eye on the market, the turbulence in South Korea is far from over for now.