South Korea's leveraged retail stock trading sparks regulator alarm

A 24‑year‑old South Korean university student, Lee Seung‑ho, turned 20 million won saved from military service into a 300 million‑won fortune in weeks by using a 500% margin loan through a trading app. When the market turned, rapid swings in the KOSPI forced his brokerage to liquidate his position, wiping out his gains and leaving him “literally could not breathe,” according to Lee.

Lee says he will borrow again once he can rebuild capital, illustrating the appeal of high‑leverage trading for young graduates facing Seoul’s sky‑high housing prices. Regulators have warned that such retail leverage is dangerous; margin loan balances in Korea’s stock market reached a record 38.63 trillion won on 24 June, the highest level on record, highlighting systemic risk in the country’s rapidly expanding leveraged‑trading culture.