South Korea’s stock market has been on a tear, making global headlines as the KOSPI index smashed through the 6000-point barrier on February 25, 2026. The surge, which saw the index climb from 2400.87 at the start of 2025 to 6083.86 in just 14 months—a jaw-dropping gain of nearly 150%—has electrified investors and ignited a frenzy of speculation, optimism, and anxiety across the country.
According to Financial Times, the feverish mood is palpable, with a widespread sense of FOMO—fear of missing out—gripping Korean retail investors. Social media memes have gone viral, depicting business titans like Lee Jae-yong and Chey Tae-won urging would-be investors to "get on board quickly," capturing the sense that those not invested are being left behind. "Isn’t it too high now? Should I still get in?" read typical online comments, as reported by Hankyung, reflecting both the hope and the nervousness that permeate the market.
On February 26, 2026, the rally was still in full swing. Samsung Electronics jumped 6.1% to 216,000 KRW, while SK Hynix soared 6.3% to 1,084,000 KRW. Together, their combined market capitalization topped 2,000 trillion KRW—almost double what it was at the start of the year. Hyundai Motor joined the party, breaking the 600,000 KRW mark for the first time with a 6.9% leap. The semiconductor sector, buoyed by global AI demand and improved industry outlooks, has been the clear engine of this extraordinary run.
Yet, beneath the surface, not everyone is celebrating. As Newsis reports, some individual investors—especially those who diversified into sectors like shipbuilding or heavy industry, or who chased gains in U.S. stocks—have been left feeling excluded and frustrated. "It’s unfair. Those who just held Samsung and SK Hynix are reaping all the rewards," lamented one full-time investor. Others have posted about exiting the market after hitting their profit targets, wary of a potential crash after such a rapid ascent. The sense of unease is compounded by the fact that, over the past year, 232 out of 941 KOSPI stocks (nearly a quarter) actually posted negative returns, even as the index soared. This so-called "index illusion," where a handful of giants drive record highs while many stocks languish, has left many feeling the heat but not the benefit.
Experts caution that this is a textbook sign of a market driven by concentrated gains. According to the Korea Exchange, while the KOSPI’s cumulative gain this year is a world-beating 44.37%—far outpacing Japan’s Nikkei 225 (up 16.39%) and U.S. indices like the Dow Jones (2.31%)—the lion’s share of the increase comes from just a few semiconductor stocks. Bloomberg noted that the Korean market’s capitalization swelled by $2.23 trillion since early 2025, making it the world’s ninth largest, overtaking France.
President Lee Jae-myung praised the flow of funds from real estate into "productive capital markets," calling it a natural and encouraging development. The number of active stock trading accounts surpassed 100 million for the first time in January 2026, and reached 101.8 million by February 24. This influx has been fueled by a "money move" phenomenon, with funds pouring out of deposits, virtual assets, and property into equities. From October to December 2025, household and corporate M2 money supply grew just 3-4%, but for securities and insurance companies, it jumped from 9.6% to 12.3%—a clear sign that liquidity is chasing market gains.
But with the good comes the bad. The Bank of Korea, in a recent parliamentary report, warned of rising volatility. The KOSPI 200 Volatility Index (VKOSPI)—South Korea’s own "fear gauge"—rose 2.83% to 49.48 on February 25, even as the market hit new highs. It even spiked to 50.99 intraday, a level usually seen during crashes, not rallies. This paradox, as Segye Ilbo points out, signals deep investor anxiety and uncertainty about how sustainable the boom really is.
Leverage is another growing concern. Margin loans at securities firms have reached a record 31.96 trillion KRW, doubling since early 2025. Investor deposits are at all-time highs. Analysts warn that if a correction comes, forced liquidations could trigger a chain reaction of selling. The risk is heightened by the extreme concentration of gains in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Excluding these two, the projected operating profit growth for 187 other listed electronics companies in 2026 is a mere 2.05%, compared to a near doubling for the sector as a whole. Some experts estimate that, for most investors, the market "feels" more like 3900-4000 points, not 6000-plus.
Foreign investors, meanwhile, have been net sellers, offloading nearly 12 trillion KRW worth of shares in February. Retail investors, especially those buying ETFs, have stepped in, purchasing over 13 trillion KRW. This retail-driven rally has led some securities firms to bump up their KOSPI targets to 7000 or even 8000, betting that the semiconductor boom and AI tailwinds have more room to run. Yet others urge caution, noting that bubbles often start from within but end with an external shock—be it a shift in U.S. interest rates, global political uncertainty, or a sudden reversal in tech fortunes.
What’s next for the KOSPI? Some experts, like those cited by Financial Times and Seoul Economic Daily, advise investors to ride the current momentum in semiconductors and large caps for the first half of 2026, but to prepare for a shift toward defensive and dividend stocks later in the year. The government, for its part, finds its policy options limited; lowering interest rates may simply drive more cash into stocks, rather than boosting real economic activity.
For now, the Korean stock market stands as a symbol of both national pride and collective anxiety—a runaway train powered by technological optimism, retail fervor, and global liquidity, but shadowed by the risks of leverage, concentration, and the ever-present possibility of a sharp reversal. As the KOSPI 6000 era dawns, investors and policymakers alike will be watching closely, hoping the ride doesn’t end with a crash.