{"id":30283,"date":"2026-05-26T11:16:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T11:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/30283\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T11:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T11:16:17","slug":"samsung-shares-briefly-plunge-18-in-pre-market-stoking-24-hour-trading-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/30283\/","title":{"rendered":"Samsung Shares Briefly Plunge 18% in Pre-Market, Stoking 24-Hour Trading Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SamsungSamsung Electronics shares plunged to the 240,000-won range during the pre-market on Nov. 26. Screen captured around 7:20 p.m. via a brokerage MTS.<\/p>\n

Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) shares briefly plunged to 240,000 won in pre-market trading on the 26th, throwing investors into temporary confusion as the price marked a nearly 18% drop from the previous session’s close.<\/p>\n

According to the financial investment industry, Samsung Electronics traded at 240,000 won per share immediately after the Nextrade (NXT) pre-market opened at 8 a.m. that day. The price was about 18% below the previous trading day’s KOSPI closing price of 292,500 won.<\/p>\n

Although only 27 shares changed hands, the quotation screen displayed Samsung Electronics’ stock price as if it had plunged sharply, drawing intense investor attention. A volatility interruption (VI) was subsequently triggered, temporarily halting trading. After trading resumed, the stock quickly recovered most of its losses. During regular trading hours, it returned to normal flow, changing hands in the high 290,000 won range.<\/p>\n

On investment communities, reactions poured in such as “I was startled when 240,000 won suddenly showed up,” “Was that an actual executed trade?” “I thought it was an error,” and “Is this a selling opportunity?” Some investors also expressed unease about the pre-market structure itself, in which the order book can swing wildly during early-morning hours.<\/p>\n

Why This Happened<\/p>\n

\"Nextrade.Nextrade. Yonhap News<\/p>\n

The industry views the incident as stemming from low liquidity and the trading mechanics of the pre-market session.<\/p>\n

Pre-market trading, which operates before the regular session opens, has relatively few participants and a thin order book. Notably, Nextrade’s pre-market operates on a “continuous auction” structure, unlike the existing Korea Exchange opening price method. Buy and sell orders are matched and executed instantly, meaning extreme-price orders can cause momentary sharp swings in stock prices.<\/p>\n

For instance, when a low-priced sell order meets a market buy order in a situation with a nearly empty order book, a price unrelated to the company’s actual value can be formed.<\/p>\n

“Order errors occasionally occur in regular trading sessions as well, but the pre-market has much thinner liquidity, so its impact on the opening price is greater,” a financial investment industry official told Yonhap News Agency. “Even for large-cap stocks, momentary price distortions can occur during periods of low trading volume.”<\/p>\n

In fact, Samsung Electronics has experienced similar cases in the pre-market before. In February, the price was displayed plunging to the 110,000 won range immediately after the opening, and on the 24th of last month, it conversely traded at a price that surged nearly 20%.<\/p>\n

\"ImageImage for illustrative purposes. Yonhap News<\/p>\n

“Is 24-Hour Trading Really Okay?”<\/p>\n

This incident is drawing attention as it coincides with ongoing discussions to expand trading hours in the domestic stock market. It reaffirmed that during periods of insufficient liquidity, such as the pre-market, even small orders can cause significant price swings.<\/p>\n

The Korea Exchange plans to fully introduce a pre-market session (7 a.m. to 7:50 a.m.) and an after-market session (4 p.m. to 8 p.m.) starting September 14. From the end of 2027, it is also pushing to establish what amounts to a 24-hour trading system.<\/p>\n

The exchange explains that expanding trading hours is part of a trend to secure global competitiveness. With major exchanges including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq also preparing 24-hour trading systems, there is a need to prevent domestic investors from flowing to overseas markets and to enhance market accessibility for foreign investors. From the perspective of working professional investors, nighttime trading would also expand investment opportunities.<\/p>\n

By contrast, individual investor groups worry that expanding trading hours could instead amplify market volatility and damage to retail investors. They point out that during periods with few participants, such as nighttime and early-morning hours, abnormal price executions like this Samsung Electronics case could occur more frequently.<\/p>\n

Market participants see a risk that when one side places an order at an extreme price and a market order comes in from the other side, trades could be executed at prices significantly detached from actual value.<\/p>\n

The Korea Stock Investors Association (KSIA) recently sent a certified letter opposing the trading hours extension to the Korea Exchange and held a rally in front of the exchange in Yeouido. “In a 24-hour trading system, foreign and institutional investors with information and financial power can become much more advantaged,” the KSIA told Yonhap News Agency. “The potential for damage to individual investors could grow.”<\/p>\n

Experts believe that supplementing market stabilization mechanisms is more important than the trading hours expansion itself. They point out that high-volume stocks like Samsung Electronics are likely to quickly recover normal prices even when temporary price distortions occur, but small- and mid-cap stocks or low-volume stocks could lead to actual investment damage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Samsung Electronics shares plunged to the 240,000-won range during the pre-market on Nov. 26. Screen captured around 7:20…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[19814,337,19813,864,19816,19812,989,276,19815],"class_list":["post-30283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-korea-exchange","tag-24-hour-trading","tag-korea-exchange","tag-kospi-volatility","tag-krx","tag-ksia","tag-nextrade-pre-market","tag-retail-investors","tag-samsung-electronics","tag-volatility-interruption"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}