KOSPI Plummets Over 5%, Triggering Sell-side Circuit Breaker for 19th Time This Year

By Yang Boyeon Posted : July 16, 2026, 10:12 Updated : July 16, 2026, 10:12

KOSPI dropped nearly 6% in early trading, prompting the activation of a sell-side circuit breaker in the stock market.

On July 16, the Korea Exchange announced that the KOSPI 200 futures price fell more than 5% from the reference price for over a minute, leading to the circuit breaker activation at 9:10 a.m.

The mini KOSPI 200 futures, which are the most recent contracts, dropped from a reference price of 1,165.32 points to 1,104.40 points at 9:10:26 a.m., marking a decline of 5.22%.

As a result, from 9:10 a.m., the effectiveness of sell orders in program trading on the stock market was suspended for five minutes. At that time, program trading recorded a net sell of 188.3 billion won.

This circuit breaker activation marks the 37th instance this year, with 19 sell-side and 18 buy-side activations recorded.

Meanwhile, as of 10 a.m. on the same day, the KOSPI was down 432.32 points (5.93%) at 6,852.09.

In the stock market, individual investors net bought 2 trillion won, while foreign and institutional investors net sold 1.08 trillion won and 1.01 trillion won, respectively, contributing to the index decline.

Among the top market capitalization stocks, Samsung Electronics (-7.87%), SK Hynix (-10.76%), SK Square (-11.94%), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (-9.70%), and Hyundai Motor (-2.30%) all showed weakness.



* This article has been translated by AI.

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