Stocks and Coins Next is 'Unlisted Stocks'... Indong Cheomdan Sojae Up 2300% K-OTC Attracts Big Money

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Following the increase in market liquidity after the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the stock and cryptocurrency markets have been booming, and recently, large sums of money have been flowing into the unlisted stock market.

According to the Korea Financial Investment Association on the 27th, as of the previous day, the total market capitalization of the over-the-counter (K-OTC) stock market was recorded at 20.0677 trillion KRW.

This is the first time in about 6 years and 5 months since November 13, 2014, that the K-OTC market capitalization has surpassed 20 trillion KRW. The K-OTC market is an over-the-counter market operated by the Korea Financial Investment Association for trading unlisted stocks.

Back in 2014, Samsung SDS, which was preparing for a transfer listing to the KOSPI, recorded a market capitalization of 42.1 trillion KRW, which raised the total K-OTC market capitalization. After Samsung SDS transferred, the total market capitalization dropped back to around 12.9 trillion KRW. Since then, it had never exceeded 20 trillion KRW.

The annual trading volume also surpassed 1 trillion KRW for the first time last year, recording 1.2766 trillion KRW. This is about eight times the 159 billion KRW annual trading volume in 2016.

The average daily trading volume this year also increased by about 32% to 6.8 billion KRW compared to 5.15 billion KRW last year. In January, the average trading volume even approached 10 billion KRW.

As market funds flood into the K-OTC market, some stocks are soaring rapidly. Indong Advanced Materials, which was registered on the K-OTC market on the 19th, started trading at 400% above its initial trading price of 1,450 KRW, and after recording the daily upper limit price for seven consecutive trading days, surged to 34,750 KRW. The increase rate during this period was 2,300%.

Indong Advanced Materials is a manufacturer of graphite, a key raw material for anode materials in secondary batteries. It was the first in the industry to domestically produce graphite heat dissipation sheet materials, which had previously been imported from overseas, and launched a 'composite graphite sheet.' Additionally, based on carbon material fine powder manufacturing technology, it developed an anode material with '1㎛' (micrometer) particles.

Currently, in the K-OTC market, not only Indong Advanced Materials but also large corporations such as SK Construction and LS Cable, as well as companies like Aribio, which is conducting clinical trials for dementia treatment drugs in the United States, and Osang Healthcare, an exporter of COVID-19 diagnostic kits, are being traded.

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