FilingsTodayPrice limits, tick sizes and circuit breakers in Korea
Updated 2026-10-31
Korean stock trading has more built-in brakes than the US market. A stock cannot move more than a fixed percentage in a day, short pauses interrupt sudden moves, and market-wide breakers stop all trading in a crash. Knowing these mechanics helps when a filing hits the market and a stock suddenly stops moving.
The daily price limit
A stock on KOSPI or KOSDAQ can rise or fall at most 30% from its base price in one day. The limit was widened from 15% to 30% in June 2015. The base price is normally the previous closing price, but it is adjusted after events such as a rights offering, a bonus issue or a dividend paid in shares (see rights offerings).
A stock that closes at the top is called "at the upper limit" (상한가) and one at the bottom "at the lower limit" (하한가). At the limit, orders can only be placed at that price, so trading may almost stop if all orders are on one side.
Some securities have different rules. For example, a newly listed stock has a wider band on its first day, and the limit does not apply in the same way in certain special trading sessions.
Tick sizes
A tick is the smallest price step. Since 25 January 2023 KOSPI and KOSDAQ use the same table:
| Share price | Tick |
|---|---|
| Below ₩2,000 | ₩1 |
| ₩2,000 to below ₩5,000 | ₩5 |
| ₩5,000 to below ₩20,000 | ₩10 |
| ₩20,000 to below ₩50,000 | ₩50 |
| ₩50,000 to below ₩200,000 | ₩100 |
| ₩200,000 to below ₩500,000 | ₩500 |
| ₩500,000 and above | ₩1,000 |
The 2023 change split three bands into finer steps (for example ₩1,000 to ₩2,000 went from ₩5 to ₩1) and removed the old differences between the two markets. Because the tick is a fixed amount, its size as a percentage changes sharply at the boundaries: ₩50 on a ₩20,000 stock is 0.25%, while ₩10 on a ₩19,990 stock is 0.05%.
Worked example
A hypothetical KOSDAQ stock closed yesterday at ₩10,000.
- Today's upper limit is ₩13,000 and the lower limit is ₩7,000. When 30% of the base price does not fall on a tick, the exchange rounds the limit to a valid tick toward the base price.
- Between ₩10,000 and ₩13,000 every price moves in ₩10 steps.
- If the stock jumps to ₩11,000 within moments, that is a 10% move from the reference price, which triggers a static volatility interruption (below). Trading switches to a two-minute call auction before continuing.
- If a rights offering takes effect overnight and the ex-rights reference price is ₩9,500, today's limits are calculated from ₩9,500 instead.
Volatility interruption (VI)
A volatility interruption (변동성완화장치) pauses continuous trading in a single stock and runs a two-minute single-price auction instead. There are two kinds:
- Static VI: triggered when the price moves 10% or more from a reference price, usually the opening or previous auction price.
- Dynamic VI: triggered by a sudden jump from the last trade price, using a smaller percentage. The threshold is lower for KOSPI 200 stocks (3%) than for other stocks (6%), and lower again near the close.
A VI is not a penalty. It gives the market a short time to absorb news, such as a big contract filing, and it is common on busy days.
Sidecars
A sidecar (사이드카) slows program trading (computer-driven basket trades between futures and stocks) when futures move sharply.
- KOSPI: triggered when KOSPI 200 futures move 5% or more from the previous close and stay there for one minute.
- KOSDAQ: triggered when KOSDAQ 150 futures move 6% or more for one minute; the KOSDAQ rule also takes the move in the KOSDAQ 150 index into account.
- Program orders are held for five minutes. A sidecar can trigger only once a day and not in the last 40 minutes of the session.
Circuit breakers
A circuit breaker (서킷브레이커) halts the whole market when an index falls:
| Stage | Index fall from previous close | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8% or more, for one minute | All trading halts for 20 minutes, then reopens with a call auction |
| 2 | 15% or more, and at least 1 percentage point further below the stage 1 level | Another 20-minute halt |
| 3 | 20% or more, and at least 1 percentage point further below the stage 2 level | Trading ends for the day |
Each stage triggers at most once a day, and circuit breakers apply only to falls, not rises. KOSPI and KOSDAQ have separate breakers.
A second venue
Since March 2025, many Korean stocks also trade on Nextrade (NXT), an alternative trading system with longer hours. It follows the same price limits but runs its own versions of some safeguards. Prices and VIs on the two venues can differ briefly.
Comparison with the US
US stocks have no daily price limit. Instead, the Limit Up-Limit Down plan pauses a stock for five minutes when it moves outside a band around its recent average price, which is closer to Korea's VI. US market-wide circuit breakers use 7%, 13% and 20% falls in the S&P 500. US tick sizes are generally one cent for stocks above US$1, so the Korean table of won ticks has no direct US match.