As Korean Retail Investors Flee, Only Record Buybacks Are Preventing A Kospi Market Crash

One month after we reported that "Korean Retail Traders Vow Not To Buy After Historic Rout" with one local (and now much poorer) momentum chaser going so far as to declare that "that was the era of the Kospi mania", it appears that Korea's legendary retail momo daytraders are indeed out. 

As Goldman's Chris Cha writes in a note overnight, with the broader market feeling sluggish, it's important to pay attention to the underlying flow dynamics. And when it comes to Korea, over August - a relatively quiet month after the July bubble bursting fireworks - we have seen a clear pivot in retail behavior away from aggressive dip-buying toward break-even profit-taking on minor rallies.