South Korea has been hit hard by leverage—retail investors have been wiped out, left contemplating life on the rooftop... Today, the CEOs of South Korea’s top 10 asset management firms met and proactively proposed strict regulations on single-stock leveraged ETFs: 1. Raise the minimum deposit threshold—from the current 10 million KRW (approximately $6,714 USD). 2. Spread out daily rebalancing times to reduce the market impact of forced buying and selling. In June, single-stock leveraged ETFs (primarily 2x Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix) were just approved, yet eight asset managers quickly launched 16 such products, pushing total assets under management to $3 billion. Young retail investors flooded in, treating them like slot machines and placing massive bets. What happened? Prices plunged over 60% from their peaks, nearly halving since listing. More than 30 trillion KRW in assets evaporated, and 1.2 million accounts were liquidated. Leveraged ETFs now account for over 70% of trading volume on the Korean stock market—SK Hynix even experienced a single-day drop of 15%, triggering multiple circuit breakers. Now, conservative lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo has bluntly declared: “This is a policy failure—KOSPI has become a casino.” On Thursday, July 17, South Korea’s four major government agencies held their first official meeting to formally address the impact of single-stock leveraged ETFs on the broader market.