South Korean authorities tripled minimum deposits and froze new listings after retail investors lost billions on single-stock leveraged productsSouth Korea’s experiment with single-stock leveraged ETFs went from zero to disaster in about six weeks. Trading volumes in 2x leveraged products tracking Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have collapsed after regulators effectively slammed the door on retail access, tripling minimum deposit requirements and halting new listings entirely. At their peak, these leveraged products accounted for up to 70% of total trading value in Samsung and SK Hynix stocks. One of the most popular products, the KODEX SK Hynix Single Stock Leverage ETF, fell nearly 70% from its June peak. Combined assets under management across leveraged ETFs cratered from approximately $50 billion to around $26 billion, a decline of nearly half.