Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kenny Kimchee]

What's the best "securities" company (e.g. Samsung Securities) for foreigners for stocks/trading in Korea? I'm looking for a company with a user-friendly English-based Internet trading platform and decent English customer service. Thanks.

[Whistleblower]

[Kenny Kimchee]

[Trumpcard]

do u specifically want to trade korean stocks? if so, why?

[bobbyhanlon]

samsung is the only one to have an english-language service (as far as i know). i used to use it and it was fine.. however their commissions are pretty high compared to others.
using a korean one isn't that hard for basic functions though, and a lot of them publish a (limited) amount of analyst reports in english. to my knowledge, kiwoom.com is the cheapest online broker here.

if you have no prior experience of investing, korean stocks might give you a wild ride. however there are great opportunities; plenty of big cap kospi stocks offer value and growth for the long term.

[maximreality]

[Kenny Kimchee]

[HapKi]

Daeshin Securities 대신층권 gave me a program for my home computer that allowed me to do trading at home. I never really got into it because I soon after got married and the wife took all the money.

[Gwangjuboy]

Try bbk.com.

[GoldMember]

You don't have to use a Korean securities company to trade Korean securities. Personally I would never hand over any money to a Korean securities company due to slack regulations and enforcement.
You can in fact use American securities firms to trade Korean securities.
Your money is safer, you can trade electonically, and the brokerage rates are very low.
For a start there is Interactive Brokers, check out their web site.
The mere fact that the OP didn't not know this, (no disrespect intended)means there is a certain lack of knowledge of financial markets, in which case trading Korean stocks may not be a very good idea.
Personally I wouldn't touch Korean stocks, as insider trading and manipulation are rampant.
Finally a number of Korean stocks are in fact listed on US exchanges.

[Kenny Kimchee]

[50 Won]

samsung securities has an on-line trading system in english.

http://english.samsungfn.com/fn_eng/contents/home/home_index.html

I wouldn't recommend that you trade Korean stocks on-line, unless you know what you're doing. It's very risky.

A safer alternative might be to invest in mutual funds. Mirae Asset securities dominate when it comes to mutual funds, for good reason.
However, they don't provide on-line trading in English. They have over 300 hundred different types of funds to invest in, globally.

http://securities.miraeasset.co.kr/eng/stock/index.htm

[Saminseoul]

If you are Canadian and would like some tips on investing feel free to email me at [email protected]. Managing your money while in Korea can be frustrating but there are many advantages if you take the time to work within the system.

[crazycanuck]

I have been actively trading in South Korea for about seven years. I would recommend opening an account with Woori securities. I have had a really good run with them so far. Their website and services are excellent and in English. It is relatively easy to contact someone when you have questions or there are problems with the internet trading system. The others pale in comparison. If you are looking for basic trading with no frills then they are all pretty decent. If you want charts with real time info then Woori is the best. Though I would recommend looking at all the sites for information about various stocks. Here is a list of decent sites to take a look at. I have given them a ranking which others may or may not agree with. The woori site is the best for my "ahem" money...I also would recommend the Daishin site but it is acting really goofy on my computer...Read the morning minutes for all sites as they give some interesting info.

http://www.wooriwm.com/eng/index.jsp
http://english.samsungfn.com/fn_eng/contents/home/home_index.html
http://www.bestez.com/eng/index.html

Don't forget to look at
(http://www.investor.reuters.com/StockEntry.aspx?target=%2fstocks)
for information about the bigger names in Korean stocks. You must know the stock number to use this. Example 002020.ks (kolon Industries)

Just to get you started I have listed some of the bigger names with stock numbers:
DAEWOO SHIPBUILDIN KRW5000 (042660.KS)
SAMSUNG ENGINEER KRW5000 (028050.KS)
SAMSUNG HEAVY IND KRW5000 (010140.KS)
SAMSUNG ELECTRONIC KRW5000 (005930.KS)
HITE BREWERY CO KRW5000 (000140.KS)
HYNIX SEMICONDUCTO KRW5000 (000660.KS)
HYUNDAI HEAVY INDS KRW5000 (009540.KS)
POSCO KRW5000 (005490.KS)
STX ENGINE CO LTD KRW2500 (077970.KS)
STX PAN OCEAN KRW100 (028670.KS)