[AK View] Is Everyone Getting Rich Except 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 prison." This is a phrase that has recently spread across social networking services (SNS). According to the post, the writer claimed to have purchased 30,000 shares of Hyosung Heavy Industries with a jeonse deposit of 261 million won just before being incarcerated in March 2020. The timing of the purchase coincided with the all-time low price of Hyosung Heavy Industries, at 8,530 won per share. After being released from prison last month, the writer checked the account and claimed that the total valuation had soared to a staggering 105.21 billion won. At that time, the stock price of Hyosung Heavy Industries was around 3.5 million won, marking a return of over 40,000%. As of the 11th, the stock price reached 4.3 million won, which means that if the writer still holds the shares, the valuation would now be approximately 130 billion won.

Another post appeared on the anonymous workplace community 'Blind,' where someone claimed to have grown their assets from 500 million won to 2.6 billion won through six years of stock investment. The writer, a woman born in 1992, described herself as coming from a "humble background" and emphasized, "I kept two household ledgers and worked like hell to build my seed money."

A story about significant gains from holding onto stocks gifted by one's mother over a decade ago has also attracted attention. The writer's mother reportedly bought about 30 million won worth of SK hynix shares, telling her child to use them as wedding funds. According to the account statement disclosed by the writer, who is still holding the shares, there are 782 shares with an average purchase price of about 33,000 won each. With the current SK hynix stock price exceeding 1.8 million won, the return rate has surpassed 5,000%, and the unrealized profit has grown to over 140 million won.

As the KOSPI approaches the 8,000-point mark, posts verifying personal investment returns are surging. The spread of success stories involving tens of billions of won is fueling growing interest among individual investors. Of course, the authenticity of these claims cannot be verified. This is why there are increasing calls to be wary of investment sentiment being stimulated by such posts.

In reality, there are also frequent stories of novice investors who, despite not having previously invested in stocks, broke their savings or even took on debt to go "all-in" on specific stocks. One case involved investing more than 2.3 billion won solely in SK hynix, including a loan of 1.7 billion won. In another post on Blind, a writer identifying as a public servant shared an account screenshot with the message, "Let's go all-in on Hynix with a margin loan of 2.2 billion won." The largest portion was in a margin trading account, with 1,327 shares purchased for a total of 2.19013 billion won, of which 1.69734 billion won was borrowed from the securities firm. The actual personal funds in the margin account amounted to about 492.78 million won, representing a high-risk investment at roughly 4.4 times leverage. The loan due date is September 8, four months from now, indicating a strategy to realize gains within that period.

As extreme returns on certain stocks are repeatedly highlighted, the classic 'FOMO' (Fear Of Missing Out) phenomenon is appearing, with investors rushing in late to chase after others' gains. It's the feeling that if your friends are making money and you aren't doing anything, you'll lose out, prompting hasty investment decisions.

Let's rewind the clock. In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic caused global stock markets to crash, there was a V-shaped rebound in 2021, prompting many to jump into stock investments using credit loans, card loans, and stock-collateralized loans—so-called "all-in" and "debt investing." There was even talk that "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, then plummeted further 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 stocks keep rising, everyone who invests will have a happy ending, but reality isn't a fairy tale, and most would agree with that. Let's not distort reality. Even now, the internet is flooded with posts showing off profits, while few admit their losses. Profit posts are not everything, nor can we know if they're true. With AI, it barely takes a minute to calculate taxes and profits and generate a screenshot.