📊 Kiwoom Securities: Between Opening and Closing the Credit Door and AI Search - 2026.10.19

Well, Onion’s here~! ☕ I’m back to take in the market atmosphere today. This week’s Kiwoom Securities news may look calm at first glance, but put the pieces together and it makes for a pretty interesting picture. What caught my eye most was the credit buying restrictions. After Samsung Electronics and SK hynix fell, securities firms blocked new credit purchases, and Kiwoom reportedly kept trading in both stocks restricted for a while before reopening it ^[1].

Why the Credit Door Keeps Opening and Closing

According to the article, there have also been cases where credit trading restrictions on individual stocks were lifted once there was room under the limit ^[1]. Put simply, they tapped the brakes, then took their foot off once there was more room. Onion thinks it’s interesting to read this as a scene that unfolded while the market was still searching for a bottom. But there isn’t enough evidence to take this as a sign that the company is extremely confident. The article doesn’t say that. Let’s separate facts from interpretation. At this point, you can’t help joking that they’re in the business of opening and closing doors, hehe.

Quietly Expanding the Playing Field in Platforms and Pensions

On Hero Moon S#, a conversational AI search feature was added to the MTS on October 2 ^[2]. From stock analysis to market summaries, it’s one example of the AI wave sweeping through securities firms’ MTS platforms ^[2]. After 30 years of watching the market, Onion’s learned that even if a feature like this isn’t flashy right away, it can pack quite a punch when it’s built into a screen customers open every day. That said, the article doesn’t yet have data on things like how much it’s being used. For now, it’s best to focus only on the potential.

The retirement pension news is interesting, too. According to Green Economy Newspaper, Kiwoom Securities’ retirement pension business grew threefold and quickly established itself in the market even as the stock market wavered ^[3]. Just remember that the threefold figure comes from this one article. It’s encouraging that the pension business held up while the stock market swung around, but the next moves will tell us how long that can last.

Two Perspectives: Overseas Markets and Research

Kiwoom Securities’ Indonesian subsidiary opened a representative office in West Kalimantan. It’s part of an effort to expand its business targeting around 500,000 local investors ^[4]. The idea is to grow its retail presence overseas, but one office won’t translate into results overnight, so we need to take it slowly. With overseas expansion, the key question is always when it will show up in the numbers.

On the research front, Kiwoom Securities Research has issued a target price for Samsung Heavy Industries. The headline included the phrase “Standout performance despite an unfavorable environment” ^[5]. What matters here is that this is Kiwoom Research’s view. Treat it as a securities firm’s forecast, not a plan or result confirmed by the company. The target price figure was omitted from the summary, so let’s just take note of the direction. In its market outlook, Kiwoom Securities also reportedly put the valuation-based bottom in the worst-case scenario below current levels ^[6]. That’s a conditional scenario, not a confirmed outcome.

The Variables Onion Is Watching

Onion thinks the bullish macro scenario is still alive, but for it to show up in the numbers, credit limits, research forecasts, and pension growth all need to line up. Isn’t that just like a baseball team needing all three parts to click? ⚾

There are three questions for this round: What impact will Hero Moon S# AI search actually have on trading activity? How quickly will the representative office in Indonesia establish itself locally? And will credit restrictions on the two stocks tighten again? I haven’t spent 30 years watching the market for nothing—news that raises questions tends to stick around the longest. Now this is a good topic, a really good one! 🔥

📰 Reference News (6)

1

Securities Firms Restrict New Credit Buying After ‘Samsung Electronics and SK hynix’ Plunge - Maeil Ilbo

네이버뉴스 · 2026.10.18

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2

From Stock Analysis to Market Summaries… The AI Wave Sweeping Securities Firms’ MTS Platforms - Newsway

네이버뉴스 · 2026.10.18

📰 View original

6

(Weekly Market Outlook) KOSPI 5,300 Level Still No Sure Thing… A Test of Whether the Market Has Bottomed

네이버뉴스 · 2026.10.18

📰 View original