South Korea's single-stock leveraged ETF daily trading volume falls below 10 trillion won, trading cools ahead of new regulatory rules

Odaily reported that according to data from the Korea Exchange, the combined daily trading volume of 16 single-stock leveraged and inverse ETFs tracking Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell below the 10 trillion won mark this Monday (July 27), dropping to 7.46 trillion won. This represents a 27% decrease from the previous trading day and a more than 30% decline compared to the average daily trading volume of the previous week. Their share of the total trading volume in the Korean ETF market also fell to 36.9%. Among these, products related to SK Hynix still dominated trading, accounting for approximately 70% of the total trading volume of all single-stock leveraged and inverse ETFs.

Market analysts believe the cooling of trading is mainly due to new regulations from South Korea's financial authorities. Starting July 31, individual investors in South Korea who newly purchase or increase holdings of single-stock leveraged ETFs/ETNs must maintain a cash-based margin of at least 30 million won. Additionally, regulators plan to raise the minimum trading unit to further curb high-frequency short-term trading. (Duam)