South Korea to Launch 2x Leveraged ETFs on Samsung & SK Hynix (May 27, 2026)

South Korea’s Korea Exchange will list single-stock leveraged ETFs on May 27, 2026, tied to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The lineup includes 14 leveraged long products and 2 inverse products, all designed to track 2x daily performance. Each ETF is expected to start trading at an initial price of 20,000 won (about $13.30), issued by at least eight domestic asset managers. This marks a policy shift after years of restrictions on single-stock leveraged ETFs. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) approved the change on April 28, 2026, and regulators also issued explicit warnings on May 15 about “extremely high potential loss risk.” Access is limited by new eligibility rules under the revised Capital Markets Act: eligible stocks must account for at least 10% of the benchmark index’s market cap and at least 5% of trading volume over the prior three months. Currently, only Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix meet the criteria. For traders, the key mechanics are that leveraged ETFs rebalance daily. That means multi-day performance can diverge from simply “2x the stock move,” especially in volatile or choppy conditions (volatility decay). The inverse products add an onshore way to express bearish exposure. Near-term market angle: the 16 listings may intensify fee competition and attract flows from similar overseas (e.g., Hong Kong) offerings, but the impact is constrained to just two underlying Korean megacaps.