South Korean retail investors bet on leveraged products of Samsung and SK Hynix with estimated losses of 2.3 trillion won

智通财经2026/10/07 03:31

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According to a South Korean lawmaker’s office, retail investors have lost an estimated 2.3 trillion KRW (about 1.7 billion USD) in just a few months from investing in leveraged exchange-traded products tracking the country’s two largest chipmakers. This is the first time the scale of risk involved in such bets has been revealed. The office of opposition People Power Party lawmaker Choi Eun-suk stated that between May 27 and August 14, clients of 10 South Korean brokerages suffered these losses by investing in single-stock ETFs and related notes linked to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Since these single-stock products were launched in May, they have intensified the AI-driven volatility in the Korean stock market. Previously, leveraged bets had made the market one of the world’s best performers, but a subsequent reversal caused severe consequences. The sharp volatility triggered by these high-risk products has prompted regulators to take action to curb retail investor mania, resulting in a significant drop in trading volume.

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