Kospi Halts Trading After 10% Slide as $9.1 Billion Leveraged Chip ETFs Amplify Sell-Off
Updated
Updated · The Week · Jun 27
Kospi Halts Trading After 10% Slide as $9.1 Billion Leveraged Chip ETFs Amplify Sell-Off
3 articles · Updated · The Week · Jun 27
Summary
South Korea’s chip-heavy Kospi triggered a circuit breaker after sharp drops in SK Hynix and Samsung threatened to turn a rout into panic.
Lee Chan-jin, the top financial regulator, said recently approved single-stock leveraged ETFs may have intensified the move by magnifying swings in the underlying chip shares.
$9.1 billion is now parked in those products, up from $3 billion at launch, with retail investors holding 92% despite warnings that the funds are high-risk.
The sell-off extends a broader AI-stock reversal that has pushed the Nasdaq down nearly 4% over five days, as investors question valuations, rates and whether AI spending will deliver profits.
Traders now expect a volatile summer with thinner liquidity, while some strategists compare the market’s resilience to the late dotcom era and warn a deeper break could find little support.