"World's Craziest Market": US Elite Fund Takes 67% Hit, Echoing South Korea's Volatile Stock Scene

The Wall Street Journal recently described the South Korean stock market, which has been experiencing extreme volatility, as a "fear-inducing amusement park ride."

On the 24th local time, The Wall Street Journal published an article titled "The World's Craziest Stock Market Has Become a Horror Ride," reporting that the South Korean stock market is showing a level of volatility unseen in major global markets over the past several years.

The outlet pointed out that the KOSPI index surged more than threefold over the past year, plummeted by about 40 percent in just two months, and then rebounded by nearly 20 percent from its lows, with high intraday volatility continuing.

It introduced that this process has even given rise to a self-deprecating new term among domestic retail investors: "Roller-KOSPI."

Cases of overseas institutional investors suffering heavy losses were also mentioned.

In fact, Situational Awareness, a hedge fund specializing in artificial intelligence themes, suffered massive losses reaching 67 percent in just one month after buying large quantities of shares in domestic semiconductor companies, leading it to liquidate most of its holdings.

The Wall Street Journal particularly noted that the brunt of these losses is concentrated among retail investors.

Citing the case of a young investor who lost his entire life savings, the report stated, "A 25-year-old investor started investing with his savings and previous investment gains, but lost all his funds in SK hynix and a single-stock leveraged ETF."

The outlet also introduced the case of 44-year-old sound engineer Yoon Kyung-min.

In an interview with the outlet, Yoon confessed, "After quitting my job, I invested half of my severance pay into semiconductor stocks and lost 7,200 dollars in a week," adding, "If my wife finds out, I'm going to be in big trouble."

Through an interview with Jung Eui-jung, head of the Korea Stockholders Association, The Wall Street Journal conveyed criticism that "the domestic stock market has turned into a casino rather than a sound investment destination," emphasizing that government response is needed for normalization.

Reported by Lee Hyeon-yeong | Video by Seo Byeong-wook | Design by Lee Jung-joo | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.