[AK View]Is Everyone Getting Rich but Me... FOMO Alert

Unbelievable Returns Spread Across Social Media
High-Risk Bets and All-In Investments... The Dangers of Chasing the Market
No Fairy-Tale Endings in the Stock Market

"Buy stocks before you go to jail." This is a phrase that has recently been spreading on social networking services (SNS). The author of the post claimed that, before being incarcerated in March 2020, they used 261 million won in jeonse deposit funds to purchase 30,000 shares of Hyosung Heavy Industries. The shares were bought when the stock hit its all-time low of 8,530 won. According to the author, after being released from prison last month and checking the account, the total valuation had soared to an astonishing 105.21 billion won. At that time, Hyosung Heavy Industries traded around 3.5 million won per share, resulting in a return of over 40,000%. As of the 11th, the stock price stood at approximately 4.3 million won, which would make the holdings worth around 130 billion won if still owned.

Meanwhile, on the anonymous workplace community 'Blind', a post appeared from someone claiming to have turned a seed fund of 500 million won into assets of 2.6 billion won through six years of stock investing. The author, a female office worker born in 1992, emphasized her background as a so-called "dirt spoon," saying, "I managed my finances using two household ledgers and scrimped and saved like crazy to build up my initial capital."

There is also a popular story of someone who has held onto stocks her mother bought over a decade ago and realized large profits. The author's mother purchased about 30 million won worth of SK hynix shares with the intention that they be used as wedding funds. The author revealed that the shares have not yet been sold, and according to the account statement, 782 shares are held at an average purchase price of about 33,000 won. With SK hynix now trading above 1.8 million won per share, this individual has achieved a return exceeding 5,000%. The valuation profit has grown to around 140 million won.

As the KOSPI index approaches the 8,000 mark, posts certifying individual investment returns are flooding in. With stories of investment successes in the billions of won spreading, interest among individual investors is growing. Of course, the veracity of these stories cannot be confirmed. This is why there are increasing calls to be wary of investment sentiment being stirred up by such posts.

In reality, stories abound of novice investors who, despite having no prior experience with stocks, have broken savings accounts or even taken on debt to go "all in" on certain stocks. There are cases of more than 2.3 billion won being invested in just SK hynix, including loans of 1.7 billion won. One author, identifying as a public servant, posted a screenshot on Blind with the message, "Going all-in on Hynix with 2.2 billion won using margin." The largest portion was allocated to a margin account, with a total of 2.19013 billion won invested in 1,327 shares, of which 1.69734 billion won came from securities firm margin loans. The actual personal funds in the margin account stood at about 492.78 million won, representing a high-risk investment of approximately 4.4 times leverage. The margin loan is set to mature on September 8, about four months from now, indicating a strategy targeting short-term gains.

As extreme profit cases in specific stocks are repeatedly highlighted, classic "FOMO" (fear of missing out) behavior is emerging, with investors rushing in late to chase the rally. When friends are making money, staying on the sidelines can create a sense of missing out, prompting people to jump in hastily.

Let's turn back the clock. When global stock markets crashed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but rebounded in a V-shape in 2021, everyone jumped into stock investing using credit loans, card loans, and stock-backed loans, engaging in so-called "all-in" and "debt investment." There was even a saying, "Even elementary school students are investing in stocks." However, the market reversed course in the second half of the year due to inflation concerns and anticipated interest rate hikes, and then plunged in 2022 with the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war.

No one knows how long the current stock market boom will last. Of course, if prices keep rising, everyone who invests in stocks could have a happy ending, but reality is seldom a fairy tale. Let's not distort reality. Even now, there are plenty of posts certifying profits, but almost none confessing losses. Not all profit certification posts are representative of the whole picture, and their authenticity cannot be verified. With AI, it takes less than a minute to generate an image calculating taxes and profits.

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