As the Kospi plummeted for two consecutive days, the trading volume of a single-stock inverse ETF betting on a drop in SK Hynix shares surpassed that of the leverage ETF for the first time since the product's launch in May.

Although financial authorities unveiled measures to curb single-stock leverage trading, analysts point out that as the sharp decline continued, trading in both inverse and leverage products surged simultaneously, further amplifying market volatility.

According to the Korea Exchange, the daily trading volume of the SOL SK Hynix Futures Single Stock Inverse 2X reached 5.898 trillion won yesterday, surpassing the 5.165 trillion won of the KODEX SK Hynix Single Stock Leverage for the first time.

Until the previous day, the trading sizes of the two products were similar, but on the 29th, when stock prices plunged, inverse trading grew at a much faster pace.

Securities industry experts view the explosion of inverse trading, which bets on falling stock prices, as a factor that further heightened stock market volatility.

Single-stock leverage and inverse ETFs require securities firms to execute hedging transactions—buying or selling the underlying physical stock—to mitigate price fluctuation risks. Experts explain that as inverse buying increases, securities firms are forced to sell additional physical stocks, which can intensify downward pressure on share prices during a bear market.

Previously, after financial authorities announced measures to curb single-stock leverage trading by raising the deposit requirement to 30 million won in cash, trading volumes for related products temporarily dropped to the 2 trillion won range.

However, with July 31—the scheduled implementation date of the measures—just around the corner, trading volumes for both inverse and leverage products surged back to around 5 trillion won on the 28th and 29th as the Kospi tumbled. This has led to assessments that the impact of the authorities' measures was limited in the face of a sudden market shock.

Kiwoom Securities analyzed that the explosive growth in single-stock inverse trading was one of the secondary factors that increased recent stock market volatility.

Reported by Kim Minjeong | Video by Choi Gang-san | Design by Lee Soo-min | Produced by SBS Digital News