Brokerages in Yeouido, Seoul, Dec. 24, 2025 / Yonhap
Wild swings in Korea’s stock market this week triggered technical glitches at several brokerage trading apps, briefly showing incorrect balances and causing screenshots of unexpected windfalls to go viral among retail investors.
The week of volatility followed sharp market moves, driven by the U.S. and Israel-Iran war.
Upon reopening after the long weekend, the benchmark KOSPI fell for two consecutive days, dropping 7.24 percent on Tuesday and 12.06 percent on Wednesday, before rebounding 9.63 percent on Thursday and 0.02 percent on Friday.
According to industry officials, the mobile trading system of Korea Investment & Securities displayed incorrect balance information for some retirement pension accounts shortly after the market opened Friday.
In certain cases, the number of shares and returns shown in the app differed from the actual holdings.
The glitch quickly drew attention online.
Screenshots circulating on an online stock community showed brokerage accounts with an evaluation amount of about 530 million won ($360,000), along with comments such as, “This isn’t my account — whose account is it?” and “For a moment I thought I got rich. My heart dropped.”
Other comments included, “Guess the system briefly made me a millionaire. I have to admit it. It was nice while it lasted. I almost started planning how to spend it.”
The brokerage said the error was caused by delays in settlement processing due to a sudden surge in trading volume.
Source: Korea Times News
