South Korea’s stock exchange has paused trading 38 times this year

South Korea’s stock exchange (KRX) has activated its 38th trading pause this year after more downward volatility crashed the price of the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) by 4.46%.

According to local news reports, the Korea Stock Exchange paused trading today across the KOSPI and Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (KOSDAQ) indices via sell-sidecar activations.

These pauses stop trading whenever the markets fall more than 5% to prevent extreme volatility.

Chosun Biz reports that it’s the second day straight that trading was paused with sell-sidecars. KOSPI slipped below 6,500 today, while its value has fallen 28% over the past month.

It was also the KOSPI’s 20th sell-sidecar activation this year, while the KOSDAQ has triggered it 10 times. Across the board, however, there have reportedly been an unprecedented 38 trading halts this year, including non-sidecar, market-wide pauses lasting 20 minutes.

The KOSPI has swung so much in price that across June, it was more volatile than $BTC.

Geopolitical events are also currently impacting international markets. There was a brief semiconductor rally tied to the successes of the AI industry, but despite this, across the last month, SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics have tumbled by -36% and -31%, respectively.

Meanwhile, tensions between the US and Iran have escalated again as the pair exchange attacks while tankers traversing the Strait of Hormuz are still being targeted.

South Korea’s energy industry is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels, 80% of which make up the country’s energy usage.

Most of these fuels need to travel through the Strait of Hormuz to reach South Korea, leaving its financial markets vulnerable.