As the KOSPI opened lower and the 5,100 level broke on the 2nd, the display board at the Hana Bank dealing room in Jung-gu, Seoul shows the KOSPI and KOSDAQ indices. Yonhap News

As the KOSPI plunged more than 5% on the 2nd, a sell-sidecar (temporary suspension of the validity of program-trading sell quotes) was triggered on the stock market.

Korea Exchange announced at 12:31 p.m. the same day that a sell-sidecar had been triggered on the stock market.

A sell-sidecar is a system that suspends the validity of program-trading sell quotes for five minutes if the KOSPI 200 futures remain down 5% from the previous day for one minute. The sell-sidecar has now been lifted. This is the first time in three months since November 5 last year that a sell-sidecar has been triggered on the KOSPI.

As of 1:10 p.m. that day, the KOSPI had plunged 285.56 points (5.47%) to 4938.80, surrendering the 5,000 level. Large-cap stocks by market capitalization fell across the board, dragging down the index, including Samsung Electronics (-5.61%), SK Hynix (-7.81%), Hyundai Motor (-5.3%), and SK Square (-12.28%).

Individuals were net buying more than 3.6 trillion won, but foreigners were net selling more than 2.3 trillion won and institutions more than 1.4 trillion won, sending the index sharply lower.