The Korea Exchange is expanding its trading hours significantly, aligning with global market trends by introducing a pre-market and after-market session, which will extend the total daily trading time to 12 hours. Starting from as early as the end of June, investors will potentially be able to trade Korean stocks from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM. According to the financial investment industry on the 13th, the exchange has prepared a “trading hours extension plan” that includes setting up a pre-market from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM and an after-market from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM, specifically for the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets.
The exchange plans to formalize this trading hours extension next week and to gather opinions from the industry. After discussions with financial authorities, the relevant regulations will be amended, aiming to establish the pre-market and after-market by June 29th. The pre-market start time is set earlier than that of the alternative trading system (ATS) NextTrade (from 8:00 AM to 8:50 AM) because it’s deemed necessary for the exchange to operate the pre-market first to set benchmark prices, considering member firms’ IT system development conditions and market stability. This also reflects an expectation of increased trading activity by attracting demand during the morning commute.
The after-market will operate from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM after the regular market (9:00 AM to 3:30 PM) closes, thereby eliminating the currently applied single price trading from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Additionally, the time for block, basket, and competitive bulk trades outside regular market hours will be expanded to 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM, from the previous 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM, and 3:40 PM to 8:00 PM after the market opens.
The initiative to extend trading hours is seen as a move to enhance market accessibility in line with global standards. The exchange also reported a plan to the Financial Services Commission to extend the derivatives market trading hours to 24 hours by the end of 2027. Last month, the exchange board approved organizational restructuring, including the establishment of a task force for building the pre-market and after-market system, marking the start of preparations for the trading hours extension. However, internal discussions regarding the extension remain ongoing, with formal negotiations with labor unions as a future task.