Chey bought SK Hynix shares as retail investors panicked — they surged 30% the next day

Buying while everyone else was selling

The timing could hardly have been better. As SK Hynix's share price cratered and retail investors flooded online forums with cries of "We've been fooled again" and "Sell now," SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won was quietly buying. The stock hit its daily upper limit the very next day.

Chey is estimated to have booked more than 1.3 billion won ($902,000) in paper gains on his SK Hynix shares in a single day. His purchase, made in the name of accountability in management, coincided with a rebound in AI semiconductor stocks in the United States, generating a windfall overnight.

With the share price in freefall, Chey bought 3,620 ordinary shares of SK Hynix on Thursday at 1,353,677 won per share, for a total outlay of 4.9 billion won. It was the first time he had ever purchased SK Hynix shares. The stock had traded as high as 3 million won just over a month earlier before tumbling into the 1.3 million won range.

SK Hynix closed Friday at 1.718 million won, up 29.95 percent from the previous session — the daily upper limit. It was the company's first limit-up close since 2009, roughly 17 years, and the first since the daily price-movement cap was widened to 30 percent in 2015.

Based on Friday's closing price, Chey's stake was valued at 6.22 billion won, meaning he had generated approximately 1.32 billion won in paper gains in a single day.

Chey concluded that the share price had fallen far below the company's intrinsic value. At a recent Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry forum in Jeju, he said, "Memory chips will always be needed, so they trend upward over time," adding, "Rather than buying and selling, simply holding on is the best way to preserve wealth."

The 4.9 billion won worth of SK Hynix shares Chey purchased represents the maximum he could buy immediately without disclosing a trading plan 30 days in advance. Purchases exceeding 5 billion won require advance insider-trading disclosure, a process that takes about a month. That the group's chairman personally committed his own funds carries symbolic weight and can be read as a strong signal of confidence in the company's value.

Meanwhile, the domestic stock market surged nearly 18 percent on Friday in a record single-day rebound. Foreign and institutional investors went on a buying spree amid the unprecedented rally, while retail investors, gripped by fear, offloaded more than 10 trillion won worth of shares — setting a new all-time record for net selling.

Samsung Electronics surged 26.81 percent to close at 262,500 won, its largest single-day gain on record. SK Hynix rose 29.95 percent to 1.718 million won, its first limit-up close since 2009.

In a market whipsawed by sharp swings in both directions, retail investors' panic selling has been conspicuous. All eyes are now on Monday's session and what consequences that selling will ultimately bring.