South Korea's Samsung and SK Hynix leveraged products see nearly $1B outflow this month

As investor enthusiasm for AI trades cools and regulators tighten measures to curb demand, leveraged ETFs tied to South Korean chipmakers have seen outflows of nearly $1 billion this month. So far, leveraged products tracking Samsung Electronics have seen $381 million in outflows in August, while those tracking SK Hynix have seen $601 million in outflows—marking the first monthly net outflows since the products launched in late May. This follows a sharp selloff in global AI trades in July, when South Korea's Kospi index plunged 22% in a single month. Since then, regulators have raised minimum deposit requirements for new investors purchasing such products and mandated a 5-day simulated trading period.