BREAKING: The Korea Exchange activated a buy-side sidecar, halting program buying just minutes after the market opened as the KOSPI surged +6%.
Over ₩333,000,000,000,000 ($222 BILLION) has been added to the South Korean stocks.
Bearish bets on US stocks are surging:
Short interest in the S&P 500 is up to ~3.7% of its free float, near the highest in data going back to 2010.
Short interest in the Russell 3000 is up to ~6.1%, also near an all-time high.
Both metrics have steadily increased since the start of 2025.
Furthermore, short interest across all NYSE-listed stocks rose to a record 9.0% of shares outstanding in late June.
By comparison, this metric peaked at ~5.0% during the 2008 Financial Crisis and ~6.0% during the 2020 pandemic.
Conditions for a short-squeeze are rising.
One of the most bullish scenarios I can see for $MU and other semis is to undercut the "neckline" of the HnS pattern, suck in short sellers, run stops and then turn and run significantly higher.
@Marketsurge chart
$MU significant momentum today with a successful b/o out of huge falling wedge setup over 50ma on daily chart AND getting back to the lower bound of this reversed rising wedge….. 972-991 is critical consolidation zone….
🚨 THIS IS THE MOST VIOLENT STOCK MARKET IN SOUTH KOREA'S HISTORY.
The Korea Exchange has now triggered more than 35 sidecars and 7 circuit breakers in 2026 alone.
In 2008, during the Global Financial Crisis, the entire year saw 26 sidecars total.
South Korea just did that in under seven months, and beat it.
KOSPI's own volatility index has now climbed higher than it ever did in 2008, making this the most volatile the Korean market has ever traded, in its entire history.
Today as well KOSPI crashed 5%, wiping out ₩260 trillion from its marketcao and triggering yet another sell side sidecar.