Overview
- KRX launched the continuous real-time after-market on Monday, Sept. 14, extending trading from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. KST for most KOSPI and KOSDAQ stocks.
- The new session replaces 10-minute auction intervals, accepts only limit orders, applies 30% daily price caps and uses volatility interruption halts to curb disorderly moves.
- Thirty-eight brokerages signed up to the session, and KRX reported about 1.8 trillion won traded on day one, roughly 7–8 percent of a normal regular-session turnover.
- Early trading was dominated by retail investors and triggered many volatility halts, prompting analysts to warn that extended hours may redistribute liquidity, keep institutions sidelined and raise hedging costs for foreign funds.
- KRX has a roadmap to move to 12-hour trading as an intermediate step and to full 24-hour trading by December 2027, a shift that is already prompting regional peers such as Hong Kong to speed reviews of trading hours.