South Korea's leveraged ETFs hit record $45B in assets as retail investors pivot from crypto

South Korea’s leveraged ETF market has ballooned to a record $45 billion in assets, an increase of more than 800% since January 2026.

The catalyst: single-stock leveraged ETFs go live

The fuse was lit on May 27, 2026, when 16 single-stock 2x leveraged ETFs launched on the Korea Exchange. The products are focused on the country’s two semiconductor heavyweights, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, and they started with roughly $3 billion in initial assets.

Within weeks, combined holdings in just the Samsung and SK Hynix ETFs surged to approximately 14 trillion won, or about $9.1 billion.

Retail investors own approximately 92% of these single-stock leveraged products.