#Gate广场五月交易分享

"The most bullish stock market" suddenly faces a change! Large funds suddenly withdraw

Yesterday, it was said to watch whether the Korean stock market's correction would trigger a collapse in the financial markets. Today, a major correction occurred, leading to a wave of declines in Bitcoin as well. As of now, the KOSPI index has fallen nearly 3%, and according to the latest disclosed data, the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF under BlackRock, with a scale of nearly $23 billion (about 156 billion RMB), recorded a net outflow of $970 million last week, marking the largest single-week sell-off in history. Notably, the KOSPI index in South Korea has already gained over 88% year-to-date in 2026, leading the major global indices.

It is worth noting that after South Korea's stock market achieved the best gains globally, foreign capital began to reduce holdings. According to the latest disclosed data, the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF under BlackRock recorded a net outflow of $970 million last week, the largest single-week withdrawal in history. At the same time, the three-times leveraged product Direxion Daily MSCI South Korea Bull 3X ETF also saw outflows of $240 million.

Meanwhile, short-selling sentiment has also increased. According to S3 Partners data, the short ratio of the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF rose to 14.81%, the highest level since February 19.

Malcolm Dorson, senior portfolio manager at Global X Management Co., said, "Given the significant appreciation of Korean assets, the concentration of the portfolio has naturally increased, and some managers are forced to sell."

Tom Graff, Chief Investment Officer at Facet, believes that the recent surge in the short ratio of the iShares MSCI South Korea ETF is more likely due to some investors using the ETF market to hedge individual stock positions, rather than a pessimistic view of the entire Asian stock market.

Graff stated that, considering the previous sharp rise, some profit-taking in the market is not surprising, and the underlying logic supporting the rally, such as capital expenditure around AI infrastructure, "still has ample tailwinds."