Won-denominated volume across the four licensed Korean exchanges exceeded the previous session's turnover on the domestic equity market, a threshold last crossed during the retail frenzy of the previous cycle.

The catalyst was a listing announcement on a major domestic venue, which historically produces a short, violent repricing as offshore supply cannot arbitrage into the market quickly enough under existing capital controls.

Regulators have signalled discomfort. The Financial Services Commission has previously required exchanges to publish listing criteria and to disclose relationships with issuers, and officials have privately raised the prospect of cooling-off periods on new listings.

For traders, the persistent local premium remains a structural feature rather than an anomaly: moving dollars into the won banking system fast enough to close it is the hard part, not identifying it.