The Direxion Daily South Korea Bull 3X Shares (KORU), a leveraged exchange-traded fund that tracks 3x the daily performance of the MSCI Korea Index, plunged nearly 20% overnight after falling nearly 18% at close amid a global selloff in technology stocks.
South Korea’s stock markets declined for a second day amid chip losses after second-quarter (Q2) results failed to meet Wall Street expectations.
The is headed for its worst monthly decline ever, having plunged nearly 64% so far in July.
Tech Selloff Deepens South Korea Rout
A sustained tech rout has weighed heavily on global chipmakers, including in South Korea.
“The beneficial impact of lower oil prices, and the fall in government bond yields that comes with that, is offset by a continued selloff in tech stocks,” Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz, said in a post on X. “Nowhere is this more apparent than in South Korea,” amid the KOSPI’s sharp decline, he added.
Meanwhile, SK Hynix's U.S.-listed shares fell more than 8% overnight despite the South Korean chipmaker's record second-quarter . However, they missed Wall Street expectations.
Revenue jumped 257% year over year to 79.32 trillion won, while operating profit surged 557% to 60.54 trillion won, both below analysts' forecasts of 84 trillion won and 64 trillion won, respectively. Despite the miss, first-half revenue surpassed 100 trillion won for the first time, driven by robust AI demand and strong sales of memory chips used by customers including Nvidia.
SK Hynix shares plummeted more than 14% in South Korea, weighing heavily on the KOSPI index, which was down more than 8% at the time of writing. The KOSPI’s trading was halted for about 20 minutes after the plunge.
SK Hynix, together with Samsung Electronics, comprises more than half of the index. “SK Hynix is lifting capex to the high 40 trillion won range, while staying silent on shareholder returns and the pricing inside its long-term contracts, and that’s left investors feeling uneasy,” Josh Gilbert, lead analyst for Asia Pacific and the Middle East at Etoro Ltd., told Bloomberg. “Given the weight of SK Hynix and Samsung on the Kospi, there’s nowhere to hide when they fall together.”
KORU ETF: What Does Retail Think?
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around KORU improved from ‘bearish’ to ‘neutral’ over 24 hours.
One user said, “$KORU Do not touch this. When Kospi flushes below 5000 it is going to ignite an inbelievable cascade of margin calls and selling. Could see a -15% day on the Kospi. And this etf decays so you will never get your money back. Look at some of the levered MSTR etfs, the UVXY, or BOIL. That is the reality of these instruments. You cannot hold these for a long term gain.”
Another user said, “$KORU huge dumping, the way its dumping, it might be down -30%.”
However, one bullish user said, “$KORU added. easy 20sh in few days??”
Despite the massive plunge, KORU stock is still up about 35% so far in 2026.