SK Hynix's stock plummeted by 30% before the market opened for the second time in a week, raising suspicions about "ghost trading" on the alternative South Korean exchange Nextrade.

Notably, chip giant SK Hynix has experienced a brief stock price crash for the second time within about a week, raising new concerns about the volatility of trading on Korea's alternative securities exchange. According to data from Nextrade, the new exchange launched last year, at 8 AM local time, 11 shares of SK Hynix traded at 1.168 million won per share, hitting the 30% daily loss limit. This exchange also handles trades before and after regular trading hours. The stock fell approximately 2% by the end of a 50-minute pre-market trading session. During the regular trading hours of the Korea Exchange (the country's main exchange) on Thursday morning, the chip manufacturer's stock price briefly plummeted by as much as 9.8% amid widespread malaise across the industry following a downturn in U.S. stocks. This rollercoaster movement on Nextrade mirrored the stock's performance from the previous Tuesday, when it also plunged 30% in pre-market trading before narrowing its losses. This incident led holders of SK Hynix derivative contracts traded on cryptocurrency exchanges to close nearly $60 million in long positions within two minutes. Given that it offers longer trading hours and lower fees, Nextrade quickly expanded its market share in Korea after its launch last year. However, unusual events such as the flash crash of SK Hynix have intensified scrutiny of this alternative exchange, as concerns grow that such trading could undermine a proper price discovery mechanism. Unlike most exchanges that use multiple pricing sources, Nextrade stated that it relies on a single source and noted that most alternative exchanges globally follow this practice. In response to media inquiries, Nextrade stated: Unlike main board exchanges, where the price discovery function (for example, determining the opening and closing prices) is critical, alternative securities exchanges focus more on trade execution. It added in its statement: Therefore, like leading alternative trading systems globally, Nextrade operates its market by opening and conducting continuous trading sessions. A spokesperson for the exchange revealed that Nextrade plans to introduce a Static Volatility Interruption (SVI) mechanism starting September 14, which should help prevent such incidents from occurring again. He added that the mechanism would be triggered by bids that are at least 10% higher or lower than the previous closing price, initiating a two-minute auction to select a price that would facilitate the most trade executions.