South Korea's President Lee Directs Measures for Single-Stock Leveraged ETFs as Market Faces 40% Volatility Spike

According to Korea Exchange data, on July 15, President Lee Jae-myung directed financial authorities to prepare supplementary measures for single-stock leveraged ETFs, citing extreme market volatility. On the previous day, trading in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix leveraged and inverse ETF products across 16 funds reached 18.28 trillion Korean won, accounting for approximately 40% of total KOSPI trading volume.

One inverse ETF product recorded a daily turnover rate of 2,432%, indicating trades exceeded actual circulating shares by over 24 times. Goldman Sachs assessed the sharp index decline as "primarily driven by forced liquidations of leveraged products," while Bloomberg questioned the government's policy decision to permit individual investors to trade leveraged ETF products.