South Korea’s financial regulator announced on Friday that the minimum deposit requirement for single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will be increased later this month.
The move targets retail investors who have increasingly used these high-risk instruments to trade individual equities, particularly in the volatile semiconductor sector.
The decision follows a series of regulatory interventions aimed at dampening speculative trading that has fueled wild swings in the domestic equity market.
Earlier this year, authorities mandated a fivefold increase in margin requirements for leveraged ETFs, a sharp intervention designed to cool excessive risk-taking.
The new deposit hike represents a further tightening of access, raising the barrier to entry for smaller accounts seeking to amplify their exposure to single-name stocks.
Speculative activity in leveraged ETFs has surged in recent months, driven partly by foreign investors, including Australians, who have fueled demand for these products as chip giants experienced significant price movements.