<Anchor>
Reporter Kim Hye-min is here.
Reporter Kim Today (29th) I'm going to talk about our stock market, but short selling was the most interesting thing to do this year.
But now, the restrictions are lifted in March, so there is a lot of talk about Mani. Is there any decision now?
<Reporter>
There is no exact decision yet.
It is still being discussed.
<Anchor> We are
discussing.
However, it is said that there was a big event in the US stock market with regard to short selling, but please explain it first and talk about it.
Individual investors who invest in Korean stocks are called Donghak ants.
However, it is said that individual investors who invest in the US stock market are called'Robin Hood'. Please explain why this is so.
<Reporter>
Yes, if there are Donghak ants in Korea, there is'Robin Hood' in America.
The reason for this nickname is that the application mainly used by individuals is called Robin Hood, and these Robin Hoods countered the short-selling forces and raised the stock price of a small company called'GameStop' enormously.
As you can see, the stock price, which was around $17 earlier this year, ended at about $347 on the 27th.
In less than a month, it has risen 20 times.
This GameStop is a very small retail chain that rents things like video game machines.
Last year, a pet supplies company bought about 10% of the company's stock.
Share prices rose a bit as individuals joined the investment on this news.
Then institutional investors started selling short, saying that GameStop's stock price was overvalued, and this was a big resentment from individual investors.
In a community called Reddit, there is a stock forum called Wall Streetbets.
It has millions of subscribers, and here, I've been criticizing short-selling investments or buying GameStop stocks.
But really, the company's stock price jumped tremendously as you saw earlier.
So far, it can be said that individuals have achieved some victory against the short selling forces.
<Anchor>
So, when institutions sell short, it means that individual investors who oppose this short selling buy stocks and are on the rise.
However, short selling means that the stock price has to go down a little, so people who invest in short selling make money.
Then, on the contrary, institutions would have lost a lot of money.
<Reporter>
Yes, it is.
Hedge funds that invested in short selling like this were struck by a'short squeeze' in which they had to buy high stocks and pay them back due to soaring stock prices.
Institutions that sold call options to individuals started to buy spot stocks to reduce the risk of loss, and as a result, GameStop stock prices were forced to surge.
One investment company lost 30% of its assets, which led to bankruptcy.
Eventually, these investment companies gave up short selling on GameStop.
According to an analysis of one company, it was estimated that investors who bet on a decline in the GameStop stock price lost more than 26 trillion won this year alone.
Among them, it is said that it flew close to 16 trillion won a day on the 27th.
As these investment companies sold other stocks to pay off their losses, it was speculated that the Nasdaq all fell together recently. The fall of the Nasdaq affected the KOSPI in Korea as well.
<Anchor>
By the way, equity means investing in the future value of a company.
But if you look at any short selling in the US market right now, it's a bit of a game.
When someone sells short, it's just an accident to counter it, but I think there are voices of concern that this is a bit unusual.
<Reporter>
Yes, these individual investors are also buying stocks in movie theater chain AMC and software company Blackberry for similar reasons. Even though these two companies also did not have a big boost, the stock price surged.
CNN also explained that "Wall Street's dissatisfaction with the elite is driving individual investors."
A White House spokesman said yesterday that they are monitoring the stock market and stocks that are showing abnormal stock prices, but it seems difficult for the US government to regulate or punish this.
It wasn't the few operatives that raised the stock price.
Since there are many ant investors, it is ambiguous to see this as illegal and punish it.
In addition, this morning, the stock price fell by nearly 30% by restricting stock trading such as GameStop and AMC on platforms that individuals mainly use.
Rather, in the US politics, it is argued that it is a'tilted playground' where only individuals are restricted from trading, and even holding a hearing is being discussed.
However, stock prices such as GameStop, which have risen irrationally, will continue to surge and plunge, and someday will fall, and at that time, the responsibility for losses will also be the responsibility of each individual.
<Anchor> As
I just said, a lot of stocks that have risen suddenly like this can suddenly drop a lot at any time.
Also, the responsibility must be borne by the individual.
I think you need to remember this part.
Then, let’s talk about our country.
We are still banned from short selling.
So, if short selling is released in March or at any time, could such a thing like a game stop happen in the Korean stock market?
<Reporter> From the
conclusion, it is actually almost impossible.
First of all, as you said, short selling is prohibited until mid-March.
Even if short selling is released, there is an upper limit in Korea.
It regulates that stocks do not rise more than 30% on the day, so it does not increase as much as in the US, where there is no upper limit.
In addition, the market team of the Korea Exchange is closely monitoring abnormal transactions in real time.
It is said that the system is well established.
That's why it's difficult for this to happen in Korea.
Rather, Korean individual investors argue that this situation has occurred in the United States due to short selling, and that Korea should also ban it.