Guides
Practical, no-hype explainers for foreign investors looking at the Korean market.
How to buy Korean stocks as a foreigner (2026)
Broker routes including Interactive Brokers' direct KRX access, market hours, taxes, and ETF/ADR alternatives.
How to read Korean investor flow data
Korea publishes who bought and sold every stock, every day. What the categories mean and how to use the numbers.
Do foreign investors move the KOSPI? 20 years of monthly data
248 months of foreign net buying against KOSPI returns: a strong same-month link, no predictive power, and the 2026 exception.
Foreign ownership of Korean stocks: 28 years of data
The KOSPI foreign ownership ratio from 14.5% in 1998 to a 44% peak in 2004 and back above 40% in 2026 — and why it rose while foreigners sold.
The won and foreign flows: how USD/KRW moves with foreign buying
The won strengthened in two-thirds of foreign net-buying months and weakened in two-thirds of selling months. What that means for a dollar-based investor.
How Korea's National Pension Service trades
Twenty years of pension flows: a buyer in every crash, a record ₩24 trillion seller in 2021, and what it has been buying in 2026.
Korea's retail leverage gauge: margin loans, deposits and forced selling
Daily margin loan balances, brokerage cash and forced liquidations — what each measures and how to read the record 2026 readings.
Short selling in Korea: the bans, the 2025 restart and how to track it
Four bans since 2008, full resumption on 31 March 2025, and what the daily short-sale and stock-lending data show since.