Western learning Ant, returning to the rebound of the New York Stock Exchange… Domestic return is negligible

The flow of individual investors who once appeared poised to reorganize the U.S. stock market and return to the domestic market has started to waver again. In April overall, they net sold U.S. stocks, but as the New York stock market rebounded near the end of the month, they switched back to large-scale net buying, and the signs of returning to the domestic market weakened compared with expectations.

According to Savebro, a securities information portal run by the Korea Depository, on April 3, so-called “Western learning ants” (Korean retail investors who invest in U.S. stocks) net sold $469 million in the U.S. stock market within the month of April 2026, equivalent to 697.2 billion Korean won. This marked the first monthly net sell-off in 10 months since June 2025, and the net selling amount was also the largest since May 2025. In particular, from April 1 to April 22, the net selling amount reached $1.572 billion, or about 2.3 trillion Korean won, showing strong selling momentum. At the time, some views held that, with weakening upward momentum in the U.S. stock market, funds could flow into the domestic stock market, and that view was supported.

However, the trend changed quickly. From April 23 onward, the “Western learning ants” turned to net buying; within the six trading days through the end of the month, they bought another $1.103 billion, or about 1.628 trillion Korean won. This was seen as having repurchased most of the net sell amount accumulated up to the 22nd in the short term. This was interpreted as being due to the reactivation of the original investor mindset that believed U.S. stocks would continue rising, as the New York market pulled out of its slump and again entered a pattern of hitting fresh all-time highs. In fact, the value of “Western learning ants’” U.S. stock holdings had once fallen to $174 billion (about 256 trillion Korean won), then rebounded to $176.2 billion (about 260 trillion Korean won).

Changes in what they bought also reflected a shift in investor sentiment. Across April as a whole, they net bought about $398.64 million of the triple-bear Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ETF (SOXS), showing a defensive stance to prepare for a drop in semiconductor stocks. At the same time, the double-bull Tesla ETF and the Roundhill memory ETF investing in memory chip companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix were also net bought—$231.93 million and $218.67 million, respectively. But looking only at the most recent week, the mood had changed. Their largest net buy was the triple-bull SOXL ETF for U.S. semiconductor stocks, totaling $320.48 million, followed closely by Intel at $105.64 million. During the same period, the net buy of SOXS was only $94.78 million, indicating that investors are shifting their focus from defense to expecting a rebound.

Indicators suggesting that funds are returning to the domestic market have also increased, but assessments say they are still not enough to change the overall flow. According to the Korea Financial Investment Association, as of April 29, the number of return accounts (RIA) was 185,936, with a cumulative balance of 1.2853 trillion Korean won. This is an increase of 268.8 billion Korean won from April 21, when the cumulative balance had exceeded 1 trillion Korean won at 1.0165 trillion Korean won. However, compared with the total U.S. stock holding size of the “Western learning ants,” this amount is only 0.46%. In the end, although some funds are moving into the domestic market, if the U.S. stock market strengthens again, overseas investment preferences may be difficult to reverse easily. In the future, this flow is likely to keep swinging back and forth depending on whether the New York market refreshes its highs and on the relative returns of the domestic market.