Amidst a strong domestic stock market, the value of stock holdings by minor investors approached 3 trillion won last year. Although the volume of shares held decreased, the valuation rose significantly due to the upward trend in stock prices.

The stock holdings value of minor investors has neared 3 trillion won.

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According to SEIBro, the securities information portal of the Korea Securities Depository, as of the end of 2025, there were a total of 728,344 minor (under 20 years old) shareholders in 88 out of the top 200 listed companies by market capitalization, for which shareholder data by age is publicly available. On average, this translates to 8,277 minor shareholders per company.

The estimated value of stocks held by these minors is about 2.98 trillion won. While both the number of shareholders and shares owned declined compared to the previous year, the valuation increased substantially due to rising stock prices. Specifically, the number of minor shareholders per listed company decreased from 8,466 in 2024 to 8,277 in 2025, and the number of shares held went down from approximately 400,000 to 370,000. In contrast, the average value of shares held by minor shareholders per listed company surged from about 19.6 billion won to 33.8 billion won.

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By company, Samsung Electronics attracted the largest number of minor investors. As of the end of last year, Samsung Electronics had 343,694 minor shareholders, meaning nearly half of all minor investors put their money into Samsung Electronics.

Compared with 2024, the number of minor shareholders fell by about 13%, from 394,886 to 343,694, and the number of shares held decreased by 17% year-on-year, from 19,402,718 to 16,063,292.

However, as the share price jumped from 53,200 won to 119,900 won, the average value of shares held per person more than doubled, rising from about 2.61 million won to 5.6 million won.

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In contrast, the number of minor shareholders in financial companies has been on the rise. Minor shareholders in Samsung Life Insurance increased by 25% over the past year, while Mirae Asset Securities saw a 74% increase. In addition, other major financial stocks such as NH Investment & Securities and DB Insurance also saw an influx of minor investors. This trend is interpreted as a reflection of expectations for gains amid last year’s stock market rally.

Meanwhile, according to the Korea Exchange's Information Data System, individual investors posted a net sell-off totaling 19.2644 trillion won in the KOSPI, KOSDAQ, and KONEX markets over the past year.