Kakao Pay Securities officially launched a fractional share trading service on August 10, enabling investors to purchase South Korean listed stocks starting from just ₩1,000 (approximately $0.71). This is the first retail service the company has rolled out since receiving its investment trading license from South Korea’s financial authorities last month. Kakao Pay Securities first applied fractional trading to overseas stocks in 2022 and has now expanded the feature to the domestic market.
The core advantage of this service is the ability to trade stocks in minimum increments of 0.0001 shares. Previously, investors could only buy in whole-share units, creating a high barrier to entry for small-scale investors when it came to high-priced stocks. With the introduction of fractional trading, young professionals just starting their careers and other retail investors with limited capital now have a pathway to diversify into higher-priced shares.
The service initially launches with three eligible stocks: Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), SK Hynix (000660.KS), and EcoPro (086520.KQ). Kakao Pay Securities plans to gradually expand the list of available stocks going forward.
The process is straightforward. Users can access the service immediately by agreeing to the fractional trading terms within their Kakao Pay Securities comprehensive account. Buy orders can be placed based on either a specific cash amount or a share quantity, while sell orders—limited to shares acquired fractionally—can only be executed by quantity. Fractional orders are batched and processed collectively after a designated cutoff time; orders placed after the window closes are converted to reserved orders. Once fractional holdings accumulate to one full share or more, they are automatically converted into a whole share and can be traded in the same manner as standard shares.
To enhance user convenience, Kakao Pay Securities also introduced a “mixed order” feature. For instance, if an investor wants to buy 2.5 shares of a particular stock, they previously had to place separate orders for two whole shares and 0.5 fractional shares. With the mixed order function, they can now enter 2.5 shares in a single transaction. Account balances and order histories also display whole and fractional holdings combined, giving investors an intuitive view of their portfolio status.
Fractional trading functionality has also been integrated into the existing “Stock Accumulation” and “Reward Order” services. Notably, purchase commissions through the Stock Accumulation service—for both whole and fractional shares—are waived through the end of this year. A Kakao Pay Securities representative stated, “By extending fractional trading support from overseas stocks to domestic stocks, we aimed to create an environment where anyone can begin investing with small amounts, free of financial burden. We will continue to expand the list of eligible stocks and steadily improve user convenience.”
Meanwhile, Kakao Pay Securities is actively running promotions to attract new customers. The company is currently offering all couples getting married this year a stock gift worth up to ₩100,000 (approximately $70.62) per household, and plans to gift ₩100,000 (approximately $70.62) in stocks to every newborn baby next year as a birthday present.