#韩国散户杠杆持仓降至三个月低点 Is new upside momentum about to be released? $SKHY $Samsung Electronics

Looking back at the South Korean market, retail leverage positions have fallen to the lowest level in three months—yet this “low point” report card is far from as clean as it looks.

The size of leveraged ETFs has already sharply dropped by 28.3% from the peak, seemingly liquidating quickly; however, margin financing has only fallen by 9.3% from the peak, and exchange-traded derivatives remain at historically high levels. Overall deleveraging has actually progressed to only about 30%.

More subtly, as of July 16, retail investors’ net subscriptions for single-stock leveraged ETFs of Samsung and SK hynix have turned positive again, suggesting some funds are cautiously probing for bargain buys after the selloff—yet the cumulative net subscription trend has shifted from continuous rise to plateau-like consolidation, and incremental willingness has clearly cooled.

Behind it is the harsh reality: in the past three months, the total forced liquidation amount reached 2.34 trillion won (about 10.7 billion yuan), with more than 1.2 million accounts triggering margin top-ups, and nearly 360k accounts wiping out their principal. Foreign capital has net sold for five consecutive months, as chips are moving from institutions toward retail, while tail-risk pricing remains at historically high levels. Fast deleveraging on the leveraged ETF side doesn’t mean overall risk has been fully extinguished—these two “hidden landmines,” margin financing and derivatives, have barely been defused.