[Market Close-Up] KOSPI Index Surges to 6,852—Retail Investors Dumped ₩2T After Buying ₩4T Yesterday's Plunge
On August 20, 2026, the KOSPI index closed at 6,852.58, jumping 5.89% in a single day. The index had plunged 5.80% the day before, and today it nearly recovered the entire loss. But the real story here isn't the index—it's who was doing the buying and selling. Retail investors who snapped up ₩4.6 trillion worth on yesterday's crash unloaded ₩2.2 trillion today, while foreign investors, who had dumped ₩3.5 trillion yesterday, came back in to buy ₩1.7 trillion. Talk about a complete reversal in 24 hours. KOSPI seller-buyer breakdown on crash day (8/19) and rally day (8/20)—personally compiled and created Index and money flow, by the numbers The KOSPI index gapped up from 6,680, touched a high of 6,904.55 (+6.70%) during the session, then gave back some of those gains to close at 6,852.58. The rally was so large that it triggered the 24th buy-side circuit breaker of the year. Given that the sell-side breaker had been hit the day before, it was unusual to see both...