Overseas Stock Trading Surpasses 50 Trillion Won... Exceeds Last Year's Total in Just 4 Months

[Asia Economy Reporter Koh Hyung-kwang] This year, the trading volume of overseas stocks has exceeded 50 trillion won, marking an all-time high. In just over four months, it has already surpassed the total overseas stock trading volume of the entire previous year. This is analyzed as a continuation of the stock fever among individual investors, which began with the COVID-19 pandemic, extending into overseas markets.

According to the Korea Securities Depository on the 6th, the total settlement amount (purchase + sale) of overseas stocks by domestic investors from the beginning of this year until the 4th of this month was $41.09825 billion (approximately 50.14 trillion won). This figure is 3.2 times higher than the same period last year ($12.66711 billion), marking an all-time high. It also exceeds last year's total overseas stock settlement amount ($40.98539 billion).

The overseas stock settlement amount, which was only $3.1 billion in 2011, first exceeded $10 billion in 2015 ($13.9 billion), then rapidly grew to $22.7 billion in 2017, $32.5 billion in 2018, and $40.9 billion in 2019. This year, due to the spread of COVID-19 and the sharp declines in the US and European stock markets, many individual investors entered the stock market aiming to buy at the bottom, making the growth rate compared to the previous year more pronounced.

In particular, investment in the US stock market surged. Overseas stock investors bought and sold a total of $35.3 billion in stocks from the beginning of this year until the 4th. This is more than four times the amount during the same period last year ($8.6 billion). This accounts for 86% of the total overseas stock trading volume ($41 billion). During the same period, the increase was also significant in Japan (64.4%), China (61.9%), Hong Kong (45.1%), and the Eurozone (36.7%), in that order.

Overseas stock investors mainly traded large-cap US stocks. The most traded stock was Tesla, the American electric vehicle company. From the beginning of this year until the 4th, $2.18 billion worth of Tesla shares were bought and sold. Next were Amazon ($1.688 billion), Microsoft ($1.666 billion), and Apple ($1.535 billion), in that order.

Not only individual company stocks but also overseas exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking indices were heavily purchased. The trading amount of 'ProShares UltraPro QQQ,' which tracks three times the return of the Nasdaq index, reached $1.509 billion, ranking fifth in overseas stock trading. 'ProShares UltraPro Short QQQ,' which inversely tracks three times the Nasdaq index, ranked sixth with $1.023 billion.

The active purchase of overseas stocks, especially US stocks, by individuals amid volatile markets is interpreted as a judgment that the US stock market, which soared last year, sharply declined due to the COVID-19 impact, presenting a buying opportunity at a low price. Kim Jin-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities, said, "It seems that investors judged that investing in US stocks, which have shown growth potential and higher returns compared to domestic stocks trapped in a box range for years, is better," adding, "As market volatility increases, investment tends to concentrate on large-cap and blue-chip stocks, and it is true that overseas companies are more attractive in terms of scale and industry."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.