[Digital Today reporter Sang-yeop Oh (오상엽)] The KOSPI market swung from a sharp fall to a sharp rise in a day, triggering sidecar curbs for a second consecutive session. After a sell sidecar the previous day, a buy sidecar was activated, underscoring a roller-coaster market.

The Korea Exchange said on Feb. 3 it triggered a buy sidecar at 9:26 a.m. in the main board market due to a sharp rise in futures prices. It was the second sidecar this year and the first buy sidecar this year.

The move followed KOSPI 200 futures for the nearest month rising 5.05 percent from the previous close of 722.60 to 759.15, with the gain of more than 5 percent sustained for 1 minute.

With the sidecar triggered, the effectiveness of program trading buy orders was suspended for 5 minutes from the time of activation. Program trading volume at the time was estimated at net buying of 55.3 billion won. The measure was automatically lifted 5 minutes after it was triggered.

Under exchange rules, a sidecar is triggered when the price of the most actively traded KOSPI 200 futures contract on the previous trading day rises or falls at least 5 percent and the move lasts for 1 minute.

It is applied only once a day and is not triggered in the first 5 minutes after the regular session begins or from 40 minutes before the close.

The previous day, KOSPI 200 futures prices fell more than 5 percent, triggering the first sell sidecar of the year. The alternating activation of sell and buy sidecars for two consecutive days suggests market volatility has widened to an extreme level.

The cumulative number of sidecar triggers in the main board market rose to 62, including 15 buy sidecars and 47 sell sidecars.