[2026 Parliamentary Audit] "Just Two and a Half Months After Launch..." Individual Investors Lose 6.3 Trillion Won on Single-Stock Leveraged Products

Individual investors who invested in single-stock leveraged and inverse exchange-traded products (ETPs, including exchange-traded notes, or ETNs) incurred losses of more than 6 trillion won just over two and a half months after the products were launched.

 

According to data submitted to Rep. Park Seonghun of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), a review of data compiled from 10 comprehensive financial investment businesses (Korea Investment & Securities, Mirae Asset Securities, NH Investment & Securities, Meritz Securities, Samsung Securities, KB Securities, Hana Securities, Kiwoom Securities, Shinhan Securities, and Daishin Securities) found that individual investors' total losses reached 6.313 trillion won from the launch of single-stock leveraged ETPs on May 27 through August 14.

The FSS calculated total profit and loss by adding realized gains and losses in accounts that had traded single-stock ETPs at least once during the period to the valuation gains and losses on holdings, measured against their purchase cost. Of the total losses, 2.3242 trillion won arose from trading, while valuation losses on products still held amounted to 3.9888 trillion won.

By age group, investors in their 40s recorded the largest total losses. They incurred losses of 2.053 trillion won across 165,200 accounts. Investors in their 50s followed, losing 1.8655 trillion won across 158,000 accounts. Those in their 30s lost 1.0912 trillion won across 117,300 accounts.

Investors aged 70 and older had the highest losses per account of any age group. They lost 293.4 billion won across 9,800 accounts, averaging about 29.94 million won per account. This was 2.6 times the average loss of about 11.56 million won across all 546,000 accounts. Investors in their 60s also lost 805.9 billion won across 61,000 accounts, averaging 13.21 million won per account.

In August in particular, there were also indications that investors may have realized losses by selling at a loss. Trading losses rose by 360.4 billion won in just over two weeks, from 1.9638 trillion won at the end of July to 2.3242 trillion won on August 14. Meanwhile, valuation losses on products that had not yet been sold fell by 50.7 billion won over the same period, from 4.0395 trillion won to 3.9888 trillion won.

As a result, total losses increased by 309.7 billion won, from 6.0033 trillion won to 6.313 trillion won. Unrealized losses on products still held declined somewhat, but total losses grew as losses actually realized through trading increased by more.

This appears to reflect either so-called "stop-loss" selling, in which investors sell directly while accepting losses, or forced sales by securities firms, known as margin calls, during credit or unpaid-balance transactions. However, the decline in valuation losses may also have been influenced by share-price movements, and additional losses may have arisen from new trades. The FSS data alone therefore cannot confirm the reasons for the sales or whether forced sales occurred.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.