The nation's securities exchange operator briefly activated sidecar curbs on the tech-heavy KOSDAQ for the first time in over three years on Monday after the index soared by more than six percent.

According to the Korea Exchange, the sidecar for the second-largest trading board was activated at 9:57 a.m. for five minutes, halting program trading for the first time since June 2020.

At the time of activation, the KOSDAQ 150 Futures jumped six-point-02 percent from the previous closing price, while the KOSDAQ 150 Index was up by seven-point-three percent.

The sidecar curb is activated when both prices of the futures index jump six percent or more compared to standard prices and prices on the spot index rise three percent or more from their previous close for over a minute.