Các nhà đầu tư lẻ Hàn Quốc chuyển sang mua cổ phiếu trực tiếp do các hạn chế đối với sản phẩm đòn bẩy

The ME News reports that on August 5 (UTC+8), after South Korea’s financial regulator raised the investment threshold for single-stock leveraged products, Korean retail investors ("Si Hac Ants") began adjusting their overseas portfolios by reducing positions in high-leverage products and shifting toward direct purchases of U.S. equities. According to data from the Korea Securities Depository on August 5, after the minimum cash margin requirement for single-stock leveraged products was raised to 300 million KRW starting August 1, significant capital outflows were observed in the 2x leveraged Tesla product TSLL. On August 3, Korean investors still net bought approximately $14.58 million worth of TSLL, but on August 4, purchases plummeted to $1.56 million while sales surged to $8.68 million, resulting in a net outflow of $7.11 million that day. In contrast, demand for Tesla’s underlying stock clearly strengthened. Between August 3 and 4, Korean investors net bought approximately $42.3 million in Tesla shares—more than five times the net inflow into TSLL during the same period. A similar trend emerged in semiconductor stocks. Korean investors sold leveraged products of Micron and SanDisk while shifting to their underlying stocks. The 2x leveraged Micron product shifted from a net purchase of $10.81 million on August 3 to a net sale of $15.98 million on August 4; both 2x leveraged SanDisk products moved from a combined net purchase of $17.74 million to a net sale of $33.74 million. During the same period, Micron and SanDisk underlying stocks received net inflows of approximately $148 million and $145 million, respectively. South Korea’s financial regulator previously announced that, effective July 31, the minimum margin requirement for single-stock leveraged products—both domestic and foreign—was raised from 100 million KRW (including pledged securities) to 300 million KRW in cash only. Existing investors must also meet this new standard when making additional purchases. The new rule permits investors to sell existing leveraged positions, but further purchases are prohibited if the required cash margin is insufficient. The regulator stated that the early implementation aims to reduce market risk and prevent capital from shifting toward overseas single-stock leveraged products such as Tesla and NVIDIA after domestic leveraged products were restricted. South Korean regulators argue that single-stock leveraged products carry concentrated capital risks and structural risks from daily yield resets leading to cumulative losses—risks that remain identical regardless of listing location. However, some investors have expressed opposition, arguing that volatility issues in Korea’s domestic market should not affect overseas investment products, and pointing out that the additional 300 million KRW cash threshold may undermine Korean investors’ competitive position relative to global peers. Currently, leveraged ETFs tracking multi-stock indices such as SOXL and KORU are not subject to this restriction; regulators believe these products pose lower risk due to diversified exposure compared to single-stock leveraged products. (Source: ODAILY)