Individual investors known as 'Korea's ants,' who heavily purchased shares of UnitedHealth Group (UNH), faced turmoil due to false news that spread in the Toss Securities community (stock discussion forum). In this community, unfounded rumors circulated claiming the company would suspend dividends, causing confusion among investors.
The news was provided by a well-known investor in the community. Although the market did not experience significant price fluctuations due to the large market capitalization of UnitedHealth Group, a trend of increased declines was detected shortly after the news broke. It is estimated that many investors reacted by selling shares at lower prices upon hearing the news.
Some have raised concerns that the community feature of Toss Securities might transform into an illegal investment advisory platform providing one-on-one investment information.
In the early hours of the 4th, an investor cited an article titled 'Breaking News: UnitedHealth Group announces sudden suspension of dividends... Market shock' in the Toss Securities community, claiming that the company would soon halt dividend payments.
The investor holds the title of 'influencer investor,' as designated by Toss Securities, and possesses a certification badge awarded to individuals with over 500 followers. This indicates significant influence over individual investors interested in this stock.
Around 12 a.m., when the news was shared in the community, the stock price turned to a downward trend. The market capitalization of UnitedHealth Group amounts to about 375 trillion won. Although the trading activities of domestic investors are not significant enough to influence the market price, domestic investors had to endure confusion. Some investors found it difficult to access overseas news and sold shares during trading based only on news from the community.
Over the past month (May 4 to June 3), UnitedHealth Group has been the most heavily net-purchased stock by Korea's ants and is now considered their 'one pick' stock. During this period, the net purchase amount totaled $350.09 million (approximately 481.1 billion won), which is double the net purchase amount of $189.21 million for the second-ranked Apple.
Considering that Toss Securities is the second-largest player in the overseas stock trading market, it appears that a significant number of domestic investors were affected by this news. A verified user of the shareholder certification raised suspicions, saying, “Could it be that the influencer investor created public sentiment using fake news for low-price purchases?”
Concerns are growing again that the community service of Toss Securities might devolve into a stock advisory platform promoting follower trading.
Toss Securities provides users with a type of badge to nurture influential investors, and uses this to expand its user base. Badges such as 'influencer (over 500 followers),' 'wealthy (with assets of 50 million won),' and 'top 5% in revenue (top 5% of sales revenue in the past 90 days)' are awarded, leading to the disclosure of their transaction history and portfolio.
Investors are interested in the investment stocks publicly shared by high-revenue individuals, and this approach has been consistently criticized for potentially encouraging reckless follower trading. Eom Joo-seong, CEO of Kiwoom Securities, also noted at a shareholders' meeting in March that 'there are external evaluations stating that the Toss Securities community is similar to stock advisory platforms.'
Last year, Toss Securities automatically awarded the 'stock master' badge to users falling within the top 5% of investment revenue. However, there was controversy when some users, wearing the badge, provided investment advice within the community, leading to allegations of similar investment advisory practices. Ultimately, the badge title was changed from 'stock master' to 'top 5% in revenue' last May.