Gaemi $GAEMI

개미

gaemi · [ˈkɛ(ː)mi] · Korean noun, attested since 1447

  1. ant
  2. a retail investor in the stock market

Small. Many. Still here.

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$GAEMI contract Posted here at launch
A line of small ants carrying a leaf far too big for them Specimen 01
gaemi, in a line
개미gaemi · noun
  1. ant
  2. a retail investor in the stock market

First attested in 1447 as 개야미 (kàyyàmí), Middle Korean.

Dictionary

An old word with a second job.

For centuries, 개미 meant one thing: the ant. Then the Korean stock market borrowed it for the small individual investor.

Not one big player. Lots of small ones, each carrying something too big for it.

Sources: Wiktionary, 개미; Korean Wikipedia, 동학개미.

Field guide

Who's who on the trail.

No. 01

개미

gaemi · the ant

The small retail investor. Shows up alone, counts in the many.

Habitat: everywhere.
No. 02

Whale

crypto slang · English

A holder so large that a single move can be seen from far away.

Not a Korean term. Ants know it anyway.
No. 03

동학개미

Donghak gaemi

Coined in 2020 for the individuals who bought Korean stocks in large numbers during that spring's crash. Named after the 19th-century Donghak movement.

No. 04

서학개미

Seohak gaemi

The same ants, abroad: individual investors in overseas stocks.

No. 05

외국인·기관

foreigners and institutions

The other side of the trail, as the 2020 coverage told it.

Plainly

What $GAEMI is