South Korea Margin Debt Falls to $22.6 Billion as Leveraged Funds Drop 71%
South Korean retail margin debt has fallen to approximately $22.6 billion, the lowest level in three months, as the sharpest unwind since the 2022 bear market pushed the KOSPI index 30% below its June peak. Over 1.2 million leveraged accounts have triggered margin calls this year, with brokers fully liquidating between 320,000 and 360,000 positions, while investor deposits shrank by $21.1 billion to $72.9 billion.
The deleveraging has wiped out billions from leveraged exchange-traded funds, including three large SK Hynix funds that shed more than 55% of their assets to under $10 billion and the 3X KORU ETF that fell 71% in seven weeks. Separately, the South Korea ETF EWY recorded a record $2.8 billion in inflows last week, surpassing previous records by $1.6 billion despite the fund itself sliding 11.4% over the period.
From the sources (25 posts)
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