🇺🇸 NYSE · NASDAQ

Three exchanges, and the clock

The NYSE holds many long-established large caps, Nasdaq skews technology, and AMEX carries more small caps and ETFs. These days, though, the listing venue says little about what a company is.

The regular session runs 09:30–16:00 US Eastern. Because the US observes daylight saving time and Korea does not, the Korean-time equivalent shifts by an hour between summer and winter.

No daily price limits

US stocks have no per-stock daily move cap. A large earnings miss can move a name 30–40% in one session. What exists instead is a market-wide circuit breaker that halts trading when the index falls by set thresholds.

Individual stocks also have short volatility halts, but these pause trading briefly rather than capping the day’s price the way a Korean limit-up does.

Lot size and settlement

The trading unit is one share. Many US shares cost hundreds of dollars, so the practical minimum feels different. Some brokers offer fractional shares by dollar amount — that is a broker service, not an exchange rule.

Settlement moved to T+1 on 28 May 2024, one day faster than Korea’s T+2. If you trade US stocks through a Korean broker, the broker’s own processing time is added, so check their notices for the actual credit date.

Dividends and tax

Quarterly dividends are the norm in the US, spread across the year rather than clustered at year-end as in Korea.

For a Korean resident, US dividends are withheld at source in the US, and capital gains are reported in Korea as overseas capital gains. Rates, deductions and filing windows follow the tax treaty and Korean tax law and can change — check the National Tax Service.

Currency matters too: even with a flat share price, a move in KRW/USD changes your return in won.