[Leaning: Korean Stock Volatility Runs Amok, with a Large Number of Retail Investors Involved] Golden Finance reported that on June 23, the Korea KOSPI index plunged 9.99% on Tuesday, marking the largest drop in three months, as overseas investors sold off shares after regulators in Korea issued “overheating” warnings for the chip industry rally. Alexander Redman, Chief Equity Strategist at CLSA, said that Tuesday’s pullback highlighted rising market volatility, with critics worrying that the market had become too stretched and that risks were increasing. “Volatility has gotten out of control. Without a large number of retail investors involved, this kind of volatility can’t be explained,” Redman said. “What worries me is that retail investors have come to dominate, because they use a lot of margin, even though their ratio to market value is small. Even more concerning is that regulators now allow leveraged single-stock ETFs, which further aggravates the problem.” On Monday, the head of Korea’s market regulator said the government was too hasty in approving leveraged funds tied to some of Korea’s well-known chip stocks; these funds were launched last month and have already intensified market volatility. In recent days, Korean regulators have warned retail investors not to use leverage in the KOSPI market, as in June the amounts of margin debt or financing used to buy stocks have risen to the highest level on record.