KOSPI Craters 9% at the Open, Forcing a Trading Halt in South Korea

South Korea's benchmark KOSPI opened for the first time since the latest US market decline — and promptly fell apart. The index dropped 9%, a move steep enough to trigger a trading halt, according to The Kobeissi Letter.

The halt stopped trading cold shortly after the open. A 9% single-session collapse is the kind of slide that forces an exchange to hit pause rather than let orders keep cascading.

The damage runs deeper than one session. The KOSPI is now down 47% from its record high, the outlet reported, leaving the index at roughly half the level it once claimed at the peak.

Timing is the sting here. Korean traders watched US markets sell off first and only got their turn at the open, with the halt arriving almost immediately once the selling started.

What happens when trading resumes, and whether the halt slows the bleed or simply delays it, is the next thing markets will find out.