"Black Mon-Tue-Wed-Thu-Fri," Accounts Melted Down... Every Generation in South Korea Faces Losses

At the end of last May, when the won-to-dollar exchange rate was soaring past 1,500 won, single-stock leverage products were abruptly launched.

There were expectations that this would expand consumer choices and prevent capital outflows, thereby having a stabilizing effect on the exchange rate.

However, with trading taking place on a 2x leverage scale amid volatile stock prices for Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix—which account for half of the KOSPI's market capitalization—criticism poured in that these products further amplified the fluctuations of the KOSPI index.

[Kim Jae-sub / Member, National Policy Committee, People Power Party (on October 19): We have had a Black Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Do you believe this is due to the launch of single-stock leverage ETFs?]

[Lee Chan-jin / Governor, Financial Supervisory Service (on October 19): I think that factor is also partly to blame.]

According to an analysis by the Financial Supervisory Service of data from 10 major securities firms, individual investors' losses on single-stock leverage products exceeded 6.3 trillion won from their launch through August 14.

This period marked a point where the prices of leverage ETFs had plummeted by around 60% from their peaks, with realized losses from investors who already sold exceeding 2.3 trillion won.

Unrealized losses visible in accounts, from investors who did not sell, amounted to nearly 4 trillion won.

Investors in their 40s suffered the largest total scale of losses, exceeding 2 trillion won, while those aged 70 and older recorded a loss of about 30 million won per account—well over twice the overall average.

Furthermore, excluding those under 20, investors aged 70 and older had the lowest rate of locking in losses through actual sales.

Compared to the end of July, realized losses from sales increased in August while unrealized losses decreased, leading to the presumption that so-called "stop-loss" selling at a loss became more active.

Recently, the prices of leverage ETFs have fallen by another 30% to 40% compared to August 14 when the tally closed, raising the possibility that total losses have grown even larger.

Total of 6.3 Trillion Won Wiped Out... Investors in Their 70s Suffer '30 Million Won Per Account' in Losses (Morning Wide, October 22, 2026)

(Reported by Min Kyung-ho, Produced by Yoon Sung-shik, Video Editing by Lim Yeojin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.