Buy orders for program trading were halted for five minutes through the Korea Exchange’s "sidecar" mechanism after KOSDAQ-linked futures soared more than six percent.

The Korea Exchange said on Monday that it had activated the five-minute suspension at 9:59 a.m. on the secondary market due to sharp movements across KOSDAQ 150 futures prices and the spot index.

At the time of activation, KOSDAQ 150 futures were trading at one-thousand-774-point-60 points, up six-point-29 percent from the previous session’s close.

The KOSDAQ 150 spot index had also jumped six-point-56 percent to one-thousand-765-point-95.

A buy-side sidecar is triggered when KOSDAQ 150 futures rise more than six percent from the previous session’s close and the KOSDAQ 150 spot index gains more than three percent, and when the rise continues for one minute. 

If the index closes above one-thousand at the end of Monday’s session, the KOSDAQ will have entered four digits for the first time in approximately four years.

The last time the index finished above one-thousand was on January 5, 2022, when it closed at one-thousand-nine-point-62 points.