‼️South Korean stock market volatility has NEVER been greater:

The Kospi 200 Volatility Index now stands ~70 points above the US VIX, the widest gap on record, dating back to 2004.

This reflects extreme uncertainty concentrated in the Korean market relative to the rest of the world.

This comes as the Kospi surged +8.5% on Friday after President Trump signaled a potential deal with Iran, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each climbing more than +9%, reversing part of the brutal losses seen earlier in the week.

Foreign investors, who had sold -$83 billion worth of Kospi shares year-to-date through Thursday, turned net purchasers on Friday for the first time in weeks.

Furthermore, the Korea Exchange triggered an automatic halt on program buying on Friday, just days after activating a 20-minute circuit breaker on Monday.

Margin loans for stock purchases stood at a RECORD 36.8 trillion won, or ~$24.2 billion, on June 10, +72% above the 3-year average of 21.4 trillion won, leaving millions of leveraged retail investors highly exposed to further swings.

These are not normal market conditions.