Kospi: new 7% crash in Seoul, bitcoin slides towards $80,000

Rebelote in Seoul. The Kospi plunged by more than 7% this Thursday, October 15, the day after higher-than-expected American inflation. Automatic sales were suspended for five minutes from 9:08 a.m. in Seoul.

After an initial drop of 8% in July, the flagship index of the South Korean Stock Exchange is now trading almost 40% below its June record. Bitcoin slides towards $80,000 in its wake.

Key Points

The Kospi reached 5,571 points during the session, down 7.28%.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell as much as 8.2% and 10.8%.

US inflation in September at 3.7% revives bets on a rate hike at the end of October.

Bitcoin lost around 3.6% in 24 hours, around $80,800.

Kospi: American inflation reignites the fuse

Everything happened the day before, in Washington. The consumer price index released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows 3.7% year-on-year in September, compared to 3.4% in August and a consensus of 3.6%. Wall Street has digested it badly. The Nasdaq lost 1.9% and Nvidia more than 3%, against a backdrop of growing doubts around the financing of AI.

The sanction falls at the opening in Seoul. The Kospi starts at 5,673 points (-5.6%). The selling sidecar is triggered at 9:08 a.m. (a five-minute pause imposed on scheduled orders when futures contracts fall more than 5%). The index reached 5,571 points around 10:15 a.m., or 7.28% less than the day before. Samsung Electronics lost up to 8.2% and SK Hynix up to 10.8%.

Foreigners sell. According to BeInCrypto, they offloaded 285.6 billion won of shares at the start of the session. The rise of the Chinese CXMT in memory chips is also weighing on the two Korean giants, which had carried most of the increase in 2026. This is the sixth session of decline in a row.

Bitcoin (barely) holds $80,000

Cryptos did not wait for Seoul to fold. As soon as the CPI was published on Wednesday, bitcoin fell below $83,000 and ether below $2,500. Thursday morning, BTC is trading around $80,800 according to CoinGecko, down 3.6% over 24 hours, after a low of $80,444. It thus evolves almost 36% below its ATH of 126,080 dollars.

The $80,000 threshold is its 50-day moving average. But it is especially the Fed that is worrying. According to the CME's FedWatch tool, the probability of a 25 basis point hike at the October 27-28 meeting increased from 21.6% to 32.7% after the inflation release. A tightening Fed means less liquidity for risky assets, and the market continues to place bitcoin in this box.

Nothing to do with the end of July, when bitcoin gained 1% while Seoul completed two historic circuit breakers.