South Korean retail investors have purchased a net 14 trillion won ($9.4 billion) in single-stock leveraged ETFs since their debut, buying heavily even as prices collapsed, after authorities moved last week to tighten rules on the products.
The KODEX SK Hynix Single Stock Leverage ETF has fallen roughly 70% from its June 2026 record high and is down about 50% since its May 27 launch. Assets in the 25 largest leveraged Korea ETFs doubled their market share to roughly 30% by June from about 15% at the start of 2026. Presidential policy chief Kim Yong-bum said on July 19 the product scale has exceeded 10 trillion won.
The buying frenzy has been fueled by margin debt, with balances reaching 38.63 trillion won on June 24 before easing to 34.37 trillion won by July 15. Nearly 1.16 million people completed mandatory leveraged-product training in the first half of 2026, a roughly 19-fold increase from a year earlier.