Dovey Wan: South Korea May Be One of the Clearest Top Indicators Among Global Risk Assets

Odaily Planet Daily News: Dovey Wan, founding partner of Primitive Ventures, posted on X that, from the "Kimchi premium" in each crypto cycle to the current "memory stocks," South Korea may be one of the clearest late-cycle indicators among global risk assets. This is not only because South Korean retail investors are extremely狂热投机者 (degens), but also because the market structure itself is further fueling retail frenzy.

On May 27, South Korea launched leveraged products for single stocks, at a time when the price increase of these assets was already nearly vertical. Local South Korean retail investors rushed in at the peak of narrative heat. In comparison, investors in Hong Kong-listed leveraged products had several months of upward rally as a buffer before entering.

When a fund and overpopulated domestic stock market, already in a reflexive surge phase, adds leverage tools to its hottest stocks, the very introduction of such products constitutes the formation of a topping signal.

This happens every time in the cryptocurrency cycle — local South Korean exchanges typically list assets only after they have experienced parabolic surges on other global exchanges, leaving poor South Korean retail investors to serve as the final exit liquidity.