Features
Reported stories about the people behind the market moves, from investors chasing a rally to the ones left holding the losses.
A Korean investor cashed out a savings account for chip stocks in July and lost close to half. Their parents' retirement money went into the same funds.
A 35-year-old cashed out a 100 million won savings account for Korean chip stocks in early July and has about 60 million won left. That was savings, not borrowed money. Korean household credit passed 2,000 trillion won for the first time, with loans outside mortgages growing faster than home loans.
The Kospi rebounded 11%. Korea's leveraged investors did not.
The Kospi rose about 11% in a week, but the rebound came too late for the investors who bet on Samsung and SK Hynix leverage with borrowed money, and it does little for the ones still holding those funds.
Korea's young and old borrowed to chase stocks. Then the market fell 43.9%, and they started missing payments.
Data the Financial Supervisory Service prepared for a lawmaker on August 9 shows 63% of the money borrowed against Korea's five most valuable stocks belongs to investors 60 and over. The two age groups now falling behind on their bank loans are the youngest borrowers and the oldest.
Heavy leverage has South Korea's investors betting against their own market. One put everything into SK Hynix falling, on the day it rose 30%.
Korea gave its investors funds that pay double in a day, and the people using them have started calling it baccarat. One asked a message board for the courage to bet everything against Samsung on Thursday. Another went all in against SK Hynix on Friday, hours after it closed limit up.
Korean investors spent the worst month in Kospi history rescuing a crab stick maker, a women's underwear brand and a pen company
Korea Exchange raised the Kospi delisting floor on July 1 and a batch of old domestic companies fell under it. Retail investors organized to buy them back over the line. For four sessions the best performers among all 944 Kospi companies were a kitchen furniture maker, an underwear brand, a pen company and a crab stick producer.
Korean investors sent funeral wreaths to the National Assembly. Forced selling is up 596% this year (July 29, 2026)
An investor group had about 30 funeral wreaths delivered to Korea's National Assembly on July 29, carrying messages asking whether investor protection is only words. Forced liquidations at Korea's 10 largest brokerages rose 596% from January to June, and the fastest increase of all was among investors 70 and older.
Retail investors say Korea's new Samsung and SK Hynix leverage ETF rule punishes the wrong people. Two professors agree.
Korea's deposit hike for Samsung and SK Hynix leverage ETFs takes effect July 31. Retail investors and two professors argue the rule punishes buyers while leaving the brokerages that issue these products untouched.