FINALLY! Korea wakes up and moves to limit retail access to the disaster that triggered this rapid sell-off from the inflection point of June 22, the unrestricted access to 16 single-stock 2X leveraged ETFs following Samsung and SK Hynix. Those 16 ETFs launched with roughly $3B and reached $9.1B within weeks, with about 92% of holders being individuals. Total Korean leveraged ETF assets hit roughly $45B by early July, up around 800% year to date, against roughly $39B of margin debt at end-May. Those ETFs plus the two chipmakers accounted for over 70% of all Korean market trading value!! When the stocks started to pull back the 2X leveraged ETFs came crashing and having been so crowded by retail investors and so reliant on marginsā¦ the series of forced selling on margin calls and deleveraging led us to where we are today. Earlier today: - The KOSPI closed at down 5.98%, halted by a circuit breaker for the second consecutive session, the first back-to-back halt in the benchmarkās history - Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol apologized in parliament for introducing single-stock leveraged ETFs āwithout careful considerationā - Lawmakers from both parties called for a parliamentary investigation into the regulators and into the Blue Houseās role in approving the products A series of restrictions have been confirmed with some already implemented across these leveraged ETFs: 1. New listings of single-stock leveraged ETFs halted since July 16, and the ban stays until the market stabilizes 2. Brokerages have started pulling their own perks. KB Securities led by cancelling margin exemptions on these products 3. Minimum cash deposit rises from 10 million won to 30 million won, roughly $6,800 to $20,400. This is the one with teeth, since it prices out a large share of the retail base 4. Pledged securities no longer count toward that deposit until sold and held as cash, which is aimed specifically at churn trading Other restrictions floated July 29, not yet decided: - Restricting the products to professional investors only. FSC chairman Lee Eog-weon said āif necessary, there is a way to raise it up to professional investorsā - Cutting the multiple from 2x to 1.5x. Lee said 2x āis too largeā and lowering it would ease volatility These were much needed measures to control the volatility and massive disruption that started by greed and exploded rapidly through fear. Letās see how it plays out over the coming weeks. $DRAM$SKHY https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/29/korea-leveraged-etf-kodex-sk-hynix.html
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Mike L@noviceadvisor Ā· 5h
Canada's economy might be in a recession but our market is up! That 1 month -30% is brutal for the kospi
Richard Verhaeghe@ravonar Ā· 5hEdited
* As of June 2026, U.S. investors had about US$1.5 trillion of margin debt outstanding, an all-time high. * Thatās roughly 4% of U.S. GDP and around 2% of the total U.S. stock marketās value. A few ways to put that in perspective: * Normal: US$400ā800 billion (historically) * Very elevated: US$900 billionā1.2 trillion * Current: ~US$1.5 trillion, which is the highest on record. Does that mean the market is dangerously leveraged? * Yes, leverage is elevated compared with history. * No, by itself it does not mean a crash is imminent. Margin debt often rises simply because stock prices rise and investors become more confident. * The danger comes if stocks fall sharply. Margin loans can trigger forced selling (margin calls), which can accelerate a correction into a deeper decline. ā This does not include borrowed money on Helocās and and regular LOCās
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