{"id":4777,"date":"2026-08-02T22:08:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T22:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4777"},"modified":"2026-08-02T22:08:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T22:08:15","slug":"crushed-by-kospi-rout-angry-koreans-rip-lee-and-vow-not-to-buy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4777","title":{"rendered":"Crushed by Kospi rout, angry Koreans rip Lee and vow not to buy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Some, like Kim Han-kyung, a Seoul resident in her late 30s, have resolved never to invest again, while others are comparing the $3.9 trillion market to a casino. Retail investors sold a record amount of Kospi shares on Friday despite a stunning 18% rebound. The gauge still capped a 22% loss for the month, the steepest since the global financial crisis.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4775\">CXMT\u2019s blockbuster IPO will test whether China\u2019s memory makers are ready for the spotlight: \u2018It does not yet mean China is broadly catching up\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Signs of frustration are everywhere on social media, with much of the blame being directed at the government. Encouraged by President Lee Jae Myung\u2019s\u00a0stock-market reform\u00a0drive as well as the debut of\u00a0single-stock leveraged ETFs\u00a0offering the prospect of amplified gains, mom-and-pop traders piled about 78 trillion won ($54.2 billion) into Kospi shares over May and June, only to be sucker-punched by the index\u2019s\u00a0wild swings\u00a0in July.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThat was the era of the Kospi mania,\u201d said Kim, who started investing in Korean stocks for the first time in early May. \u201cI got completely swept up in the frenzy. Now, I\u2019m honestly scared. I\u2019ve engraved two rules in my mind now. First: don\u2019t invest in the Korean stock market. Second: follow the first rule.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trading in Kospi stocks was halted four times during the month, a record run for circuit-breaker suspensions, a tool rarely used before this year.<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, the ETFs,\u00a0introduced\u00a0in late May to broaden investment opportunities for retail traders and stem outflows into similar products abroad, have become a lightning rod for criticism and\u00a0blamed\u00a0for amplifying volatility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe government put fuel into the fire with those leveraged ETFs,\u201d said 40-year-old Lee Jung-min, who took a 50 million won loan with his apartment as a collateral to trade stocks. \u201cI think it\u2019s wrong how they turned the stock market into a casino.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>\u2018Kospi Mania\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>The dramatic unraveling in July followed months of optimism that had built around Korean equities. The market, home to two of the world\u2019s memory chipmakers\u00a0Samsung Electronics Co.\u00a0and\u00a0SK Hynix Inc., remains one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI frenzy. The two stocks together make up more than 50% of the Kospi.<\/p>\n<p>Samsung\u2019s shares, which slumped 21% in July, are still up more than four times since the start of 2025. SK Hynix\u2019s stock lost 35% but is up nearly 10 times in that period. The Kospi remains among the world\u2019s best performers for 2026 despite the pullback.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4773\">Moscow views SpaceX\u2019s Starlink as a grave threat, and Ukraine is seeking Trump\u2019s help to get permission to use it for hitting targets inside Russia<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cSuch volatility level still shows the market is not functioning normally,\u201d said Kim Dong Woo, a 33-year-old who has been trading stocks for more than seven years. \u00a0<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>That said, it\u2019s hard to argue that retail investors were unaware of the risks. Surging volatility had been a key feature of the Korean market, but the fear of missing out still drew many of them into concentrated bets on AI-linked heavyweights and margin-financed stock purchases.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a textbook example of what happens when a crowded trade meets leverage,\u201d said Lale Akoner, global market analyst at eToro Group Ltd. in London. \u201cDeleveraging is unlikely to be resolved in a matter of days, so investors should expect further sharp swings in technology and semiconductor stocks over the coming months,\u201d she said, adding however that \u201cthis should not be mistaken for a wholesale collapse in the AI investment case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For their part, authorities have sprung into action. They\u00a0temporarily halted\u00a0new listings of single-stock leveraged ETFs in mid-July, and last week pledged\u00a0additional measures\u00a0to stabilize the stock market and curb retail access to such products.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But many retail investors and market participants say the steps came too late. \u201cThe current environment presents a significant challenge\u201d for the government, said Francis Tan, Asia chief strategist at Indosuez Wealth Management in Singapore.<\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead, the AI boom that fueled Korea\u2019s rally\u00a0remains intact. Yet for many, July served as a lesson that the same forces capable of delivering outsized gains can also unravel swiftly. Rebuilding confidence among them may take longer than it does for the market to recoup losses.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cRetail investors are furious with the government,\u201d said Jung Eui-jung, head of the Korean Stockholders\u2019 Alliance, which has 64,000 members. \u201cThe level of anger and criticism is at its peak.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4771\">Trump\u2019s approval rating on the economy sinks to just 32%, and even Republicans feel like they need \u2018to get a loan before I go grocery shopping\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Retail investors sold a record amount of Kospi shares on Friday despite a stunning 18% rebound.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[336],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-south-korea"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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