Ants, achieving an 80% return record in domestic stock sales! Samsung Electronics attracts much attention

In the first quarter of this year, 80% of individual investors who sold domestic stocks actually made a profit. Although the war between the United States and Iran increased market volatility, individual investors were relatively successful in taking profits amid the overall upward trend in the stock market.

On the 11th, Shinhan Investment & Securities released an analysis of the performance of its clients—individual investors—who sold domestic stocks in the first quarter of this year. The results showed that profitable investors had an average gain of 8.48 million won. By contrast, clients who incurred losses had an average loss of 4.96 million won. On a month-by-month basis, the average gain fell from 6.92 million won in January to 5.94 million won in February, and to 3.98 million won in March; meanwhile, the loss was 3.67 million won in January, 2.67 million won in February, and 4.49 million won in March, the highest among the three months. It can be said that as the war fully erupted in March, investment performance deteriorated.

In the listed securities market, the individual stock that produced both gains and losses for the largest number of investors was Samsung Electronics. Among clients who sold Samsung Electronics in the first quarter, profitable clients averaged 7.14 million won in gains, while clients who suffered losses averaged a loss of 1.73 million won. Among the stocks with more clients generating profits, following Samsung Electronics were SK Hynix (594 million won), Doosan Energy (206 million won), Hyundai Motor (341 million won), and Hanmi Semiconductor (254 million won). Conversely, among the stocks with more clients incurring losses, following Samsung Electronics were Hyundai Motor (137 million won), SK Hynix (246 million won), Doosan Energy (59 million won), and Hanwha Solutions (81 million won). This can be interpreted as: the more concentrated the trading is in a representative stock, the more cases of both gains and losses are recorded simultaneously.

In the KOSDAQ market, Woori Technology was listed as the stock that brought gains to the largest number of clients, with an average gain of 2.36 million won. Following are EcoPro (2.50 million won), Hurom Robot (1.40 million won), Alteogen (2.09 million won), and Jeju Semiconductor (1.04 million won). By contrast, the stock that caused the largest number of clients to suffer losses was Hurom Robot, with an average loss of 0.70 million won; followed by Woori Technology (0.57 million won), EcoPro (1.04 million won), Alteogen (2.58 million won), and Hyundai Movex (0.90 million won). This can be seen as reflecting the characteristics of KOSDAQ stocks: although growth expectations are relatively large, the magnitude of stock price rises and falls is also large—so even within the same stock, performance differences can be significant depending on the timing of the investment.

By investor characteristics, the average gains by gender were 7.39 million won for men and 3.86 million won for women. By age group, those aged 70 and above had the highest average at 18.73 million won, followed in order by those in their 60s (10.11 million won), 50s (7.32 million won), 40s (3.98 million won), 30s (2.21 million won), and 20s (1.43 million won). This can be interpreted as: older investors, who have more investment experience and employ larger amounts of capital, achieve larger realized gains. Shinhan Investment & Securities explained that amid the domestic stock market continuously reaching new historical highs, this statistic indicates that individual investors are taking profits on domestic stocks in a relatively systematic way. If this trend continues as the stock market’s upward momentum persists in the future, it may be further reinforced. However, under circumstances of expanded geopolitical variables and heightened volatility, the speed of profit-taking and the scale of losses may increase at the same time.