U.S. stock daytime trading services, which have been suspended for over a year, will resume sequentially starting in November. Financial authorities plan to ensure that sufficient safeguards are in place before the service resumes and have stated that they will take strict action if large-scale IT accidents occur in the future.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced on the 24th that "domestic securities firms and the Korea Financial Investment Association have decided to resume the U.S. stock daytime trading service from November, which was suspended for a long time after the trading cancellation incident at the U.S. Alternative Trading System (ATS) 'Blue Ocean' in August of last year." Securities firms are scheduled to resume the service sequentially starting from November 4, depending on their individual preparations.
The U.S. stock daytime trading service allows domestic investors to trade U.S. stocks during Korean daytime hours. This service was operated with all domestic orders being executed through Blue Ocean. However, on August 5 of last year, a system error at Blue Ocean led to the unilateral cancellation of submitted orders. As a result, the domestic securities industry simultaneously suspended the daytime trading service from August 16.
Financial authorities and the industry explained that the decision to resume daytime trading was made in consideration of recent changes in the domestic and international environment, such as the expansion of the U.S. after-hours trading market. In addition to Blue Ocean, they have decided to enter into multiple contracts with other ATSs such as 'Moon' and 'Bruce.'
Regarding the resumption of the daytime trading service, the FSS stated that its top priority is to protect domestic investors and that it plans to ensure sufficient safeguards are in place. Authorities emphasized the need to establish a 'roll-back' system to minimize the time required to restore investor balances in the event of trading errors or system failures. They also added the necessity for clear compensation standards and procedures for investor losses due to system errors, as well as a detailed response manual with scenarios for each type of failure.
An FSS official said, "We will take strict action in accordance with the law and principles when large-scale IT accidents occur due to inadequate internal controls."
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