South Korean Retail Investors Snap Up Single-Stock Leverage ETFs on $565M Inflows Despite 30% Crash on July 28

According to KOSCOM data, on July 28, South Korean retail investors made net purchases of 731.5 billion won (approximately $565 million) across 14 single-stock leverage exchange-traded funds despite steep market losses. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each dropped 13.39% and 14.65% respectively, causing corresponding leveraged ETFs tracking their performance to plunge nearly 30%.

The KODEX SK Hynix Single-Stock Leverage ETF recorded the largest inflows at 420 billion won, while the TIGER SK Hynix variant added 152.3 billion won. Market analysts attributed the sharp buying to investor expectations of an eventual rebound, citing concerns over increased memory chip competition from Chinese competitor CXMT following its recent IPO.