South Korea’s stock exchange, the Korea Exchange (KRX), announced on Monday that it has identified 76 instances of suspected illegal short selling in the first year since implementing its real-time monitoring system. These cases have been reported to regulatory authorities for further investigation.
The KRX detected these potential violations using its Naked Short Selling Detection System (NSDS), which was launched on March 31 of the previous year, coinciding with the resumption of short selling in the South Korean market.
Notably, 68.4% of the identified cases involved relatively small amounts, each valued at less than 100 million won (approximately US$65,823).
The NSDS system monitors an average of 15 million short-selling transactions daily, according to the Korea Exchange.
The total value of short-selling transactions monitored over the past year, up to last Friday, reached 289.3 trillion won. A significant portion, 91.3% (264.2 trillion won), was attributed to the 24 financial institutions participating in the NSDS, the KRX stated.
The daily average value of short-selling transactions has increased from approximately 170 billion won in February to around 240 billion won this month, as reported by the KRX, indicating a growing trend in short-selling activity.
