Grandparents are hooked on Toss — senior accounts jumped 256%

With the Kospi surging past the 9,000 mark, a growing number of older Koreans are entering the stock market for the first time — and many are turning to Toss Securities, the country's No. 1 fintech brokerage, which built its reputation as a platform for younger investors trading overseas stocks.

Seniors who long stuck to branch counters at traditional brokerages or navigated complex home trading systems are now flocking to the new generation of mobile trading platforms, drawn by their ease of use and accessibility.

Data on new account openings by age group from Toss Securities show that the number of users aged 60 and older jumped 256.2 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year.

That figure far outpaced growth among the core working-age groups — 40-somethings (155.7 percent) and 50-somethings (169.9 percent) — as well as Toss's traditional base of users in their 20s (77.4 percent) and 30s (109.5 percent).

New sign-ups from the 60-and-older cohort had dipped 10.3 percent in 2024 from the prior year, before rebounding 53 percent in 2025 and accelerating sharply into this year.

The investment portfolios of older users have also shifted. Among stocks most purchased by investors aged 60 and older as of last month, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Hyundai Motor ranked first through third, respectively, followed by Taihan Fiberoptics and LG Electronics.

From 2023 through 2025, Tesla had consistently held a spot in the top three, but this year all five of the most-bought stocks are domestic companies.

Market analysts attribute the shift to the recent rally in South Korean equities. Strong semiconductor exports, gains tied to the AI rally and expectations surrounding the government's corporate value-up program have fueled a Kospi boom, drawing senior investors toward familiar blue-chip domestic stocks rather than more volatile overseas alternatives.

The Kospi surged 114.8 percent from the end of last year through Friday, the most recent trading session — far outpacing Wall Street's three major indexes: the S&P 500 (9.6 percent), the Nasdaq Composite (14.1 percent) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (7.3 percent).

The tilt toward domestic stocks among older investors is particularly striking given that Toss Securities has historically been the go-to platform for "seohak gaemi" — retail investors who trade on US markets.

Toss Securities launched in March 2021 and has led the democratization of overseas stock investing through its intuitive mobile trading system.

Last year, the platform surpassed 30 trillion won (about $19.5 billion) in monthly overseas stock trading volume, topping the industry. As of the end of last year, Toss Securities' total assets on a consolidated basis stood at 7.2034 trillion won, with customer deposits — funds held in brokerage accounts — at 5.2303 trillion won and cash and deposits at 3.939 trillion won.

"Toss Securities is the platform the brokerage industry is watching most closely," an official at a major securities firm said. "It grew as an overseas-stock-focused platform, but the recent Kospi rally has expanded demand for domestic investing, and its user base is becoming increasingly diverse in age."

jiyun@heraldcorp.com
hajun825@heraldcorp.com