South Korea's KOSPI index triggered a circuit breaker amid a decline.

According to South Korean media reports, South Korea’s stock market has suffered two consecutive days of sharp declines. On July 28, amid massive foreign sell-offs, South Korean retail investors net bought over 4.3 trillion won against the trend to bottom-fish. However, on the 29th, the market sell-off deepened, and retail investors shifted to panic selling, net selling 1.42 trillion won in the morning session, indicating that the capital that had previously stepped in to buy the dip has started cutting losses and exiting. As of the morning of July 29 local time, the KOSPI once fell more than 12% and the KOSDAQ dropped over 8%, triggering circuit breakers in both markets for the first time in history. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have plunged for two straight days, with their combined market value evaporating around 530 trillion won — Samsung Electronics shrank by 257 trillion won, and SK Hynix by 273 trillion won. Citigroup estimates that South Korean retail investors’ leveraged ETFs have accumulated losses of roughly $38.7 billion (about 56.3 trillion won). Meanwhile, South Korean investors’ margin balances have dropped by more than 30 trillion won from their peak, while the net amount of U.S. stocks bought by South Korean investors in July surged approximately 5.7 times month-on-month, signaling that capital is accelerating its exit from South Korean stocks and shifting to overseas markets.

According to South Korean media reports, South Korea’s stock market has seen a sharp, sustained pullback recently, shifting investor sentiment from the earlier fear of missing out (FOMO) to the joy of missing out (JOMO). South Korea’s KOSPI index once fell more than 12% today, while SK Hynix dropped over 17% to hit its largest single-day decline on record, and Samsung Electronics fell more than 13%. The declines were driven by factors including weakness in the U.S. semiconductor sector, the listing of Chinese storage chip maker CXMT, and SK Hynix’s underwhelming financial results. Meanwhile, liquidity in South Korea’s stock market has continued to cool. As of July 24, investor margin balances have decreased by approximately 31 trillion won from their June peak, and margin trading balances have fallen by around 6 trillion won from their high, reflecting a sustained exodus of leveraged funds from the market.

South Korean stocks weakened today, and CSOP Leveraged Twice-Long SK Hynix (07709.HK) also plunged sharply. As of Hong Kong's midday close, the product's daily decline reached 25.72%, with its drop since July hitting 81.05%. Data shows the product's latest asset size stands at HK$31.92 billion, a 70% shrinkage from its peak level. Another leveraged product under CSOP tracking South Korean chip stocks also fell sharply: as of Hong Kong's midday close, CSOP Leveraged Twice-Long Samsung Electronics (07747.HK) posted a daily decline of 16.56% and a month-to-date drop of 69.55%.

On Wednesday, South Korean retail investors faced forced liquidations of positions worth around 1.7 trillion won (approximately $1.2 billion). South Korea’s KOSPI index plunged more than 12% at one point, while SK Hynix dropped over 17% to mark its largest single-day decline on record. “There have been numerous forced liquidations today,” said Jung In Yun, global chief executive officer of Fibonacci Asset Management. “We need to wait until selling sentiment among retail investors eases before taking action.”

According to public market data, "Big Short" investor Michael Burry initiated short positions in NVDA at approximately $198.09, AMAT at ~$729.40, and SOXX at ~$642.80 on June 30. In early July, he opened direct short positions in Micron at ~$1,051.87. Around July 24, he added to his short positions in Micron, Nvidia, and SOXX. As of the U.S. stock market close on July 28, the unrealized gain on his AMAT short position is ~34.7%, SOXX ~23.3%, Micron Technology ~22.0%, and Nvidia ~0.5%. Excluding position weighting, the simple average unrealized gain of his short portfolio established between late June and early July is ~20.1%. Additionally, using the July 24 closing price as an approximation for his added short positions, as of the July 28 close, the unrealized gains on his added short positions in Micron, Nvidia, and SOXX are ~10.9%, 4.8%, and 6.4% respectively, with a simple average of ~7.4%. Due to the lack of specific details including short position size, option structure, position addition ratio, and whether any positions have been closed, his actual profit amount cannot be calculated at this time.

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