The "Rule of Underwriters" Even the "Metaverse Powerhouse" Could Not Avoid

Giant Step Turns Down on Second Day of Listing
Success in First-Day Surge Driven by Real-Time Content Production Technology and Metaverse Hopes
Lack of Follow-Through Applies Again to IPO Stock Rule

[Asia Economy Reporter Ji Yeon-jin] Visual effects (VFX) specialist company Giant Step made a spectacular stock market debut on its first day of listing with a ‘ttasang’ (forming an opening price at twice the public offering price and then hitting the upper price limit), drawing attention to whether it can break the ‘public offering stock rule’ that has continued since last year.

On the 25th, in the KOSDAQ market, Giant Step reversed to a decline from 9:55 a.m., falling 250 won (0.87%) from the previous day to 28,350 won. On its first day of listing the previous day, the company formed an opening price of 22,000 won, exceeding the public offering price (11,000 won), and immediately went straight to the price limit. It maintained the upper price limit during the session and closed trading at 28,600 won, up 6,600 won (30%) from the previous day.

Giant Step is a company that produces advertising and video VFX and real-time immersive content, and it attracted investors’ attention as a metaverse-related stock that has been highly anticipated even before its listing. In the demand forecast for institutional investors held on the 9th and 10th, the competition rate was 1,691.65 to 1, breaking the record of SK Bioscience (1,275.47 to 1), which had the highest competition rate this year. The tradable volume is 30.9%.

Since the company has secured technological capabilities to implement immersive content, which is the core of the metaverse, the market expects that the explosive growth of the real-time content market will fuel the company’s stock price. It is estimated that the proportion of real-time content in domestic advertising video content increased from 5% in 2019 to about 20% last year.

However, Giant Step also shows signs of the ‘public offering stock formula’ where momentum fades from the second day of listing. Although it started trading at an opening price more than 10% higher than the previous day, the rise narrowed continuously during the morning session and turned to a decline.

Since last year, the IPO market has repeatedly shown a ‘strong start, weak finish’ pattern where stock prices fail to maintain strength after listing. SK Bioscience, regarded as this year’s biggest IPO, recorded a ttasang on its first day of listing (March 18) but fell for four consecutive days, dropping to 136,500 won the day before. Although it showed strength early in the session, it turned downward due to a flood of sell orders. SK Biopharm, which had a three-day consecutive upper limit price (ttasang-sangsang) streak early after listing last year, also fell below its first-day closing price (166,500 won) to 106,500 won the day before, and Kakao Games and Big Hit are also trading below their first-day closing prices.

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