South Korean retail investors went through a turbulent journey from memecoins to AI-linked equities, first driving the KOSPI index to a 180% rally in roughly ten months before watching it collapse by 25% in four weeks. SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics emerged as the primary beneficiaries of this massive rotation toward AI stocks, while trading volumes on domestic crypto exchanges like Upbit and Bithumb plummeted. In March 2026, the equity market saw declines of around 20% in just two days, triggering forced liquidations and a capital flow reversal toward crypto platforms that had become ghost towns months earlier. The structural symmetry between equity and crypto market movements suggests a connection that traders will monitor by watching activity on South Korean platforms.
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