'5000-point' expectations spur retail investors to load ammunition...stock market standby funds surpass 85 trillion won

As the domestic stock market's bullish trend continues, investor deposits, the stock market's standby funds, have exceeded 85 trillion won for the first time in history.

According to the Korea Financial Investment Association on the 30th, investor deposits were recorded at 85.9159 trillion won as of the previous day. This is the largest amount on record. Investor deposits refer to the total balance customers have left in brokerage accounts. Usually, investor deposits also increase when expectations of rising stock prices grow.

Investor deposits first surpassed 80 trillion won on the 13th of this month. Since then they have steadily trended upward, increasing by more than 5 trillion won in 17 days.

The margin loan balance, the result of 'debt investing' (borrowing to invest), also exceeded 25 trillion won for the first time the previous day. On that day, margin loans stood at 25.0968 trillion won, about an 8% increase compared with 23.3412 trillion won on the 2nd of this month. Margin loans refer to borrowing short-term loans from brokerages to buy stocks. They tend to become more active as expectations for a rising market grow.

Reporter Yang Ji-yoon yang@hankyung.com