"Retail investors pulled it off"...Went all in with 1.4 trillion won despite market plunge

According to Financial News, after the outbreak of war between the United States of America (US) and the Islamic Republic of Iran sent both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ plunging more than 10% on the 4th, individual investors seized the dip-buying opportunity and aggressively bought leveraged ETFs.
Data from Koscom Corporation on the 5th show that on the 4th, when the KOSPI fell 12.06%, seven of the top 10 net purchases by individual investors were leveraged ETFs.
The ETF most heavily bought by retail investors the previous day was the KODEX KOSDAQ 150 Leverage ETF, with net purchases of 672.7 billion won in a single day. It was followed by the KODEX Leverage ETF (424.1 billion won), the Mirae Asset TIGER Semiconductor TOP10 Leverage ETF (89 billion won), the Samsung KODEX Semiconductor Leverage ETF (79.5 billion won), and the Samsung KODEX Secondary Battery Industry Leverage ETF (69.4 billion won).
In total, individual investors bought roughly 1.4 trillion won worth of major leveraged products in just one day.
This bold bet by retail investors turned into hefty gains overnight. On the 5th, the KOSPI jumped 9.63%, marking the second‐largest daily gain on record, while the KOSDAQ soared 14.1%, its biggest rise ever.
The KODEX KOSDAQ 150 Leverage ETF surged 25.75% on the day and was at one point up as much as 39.74% during intraday trading. The KODEX Leverage ETF also climbed as much as 25.96% intraday and ended the session up 19.84%.
Buying also poured into semiconductor‐related leveraged ETFs. Since semiconductor stocks had led the strongest rally before the war shock hit the domestic market, investors appear to have expected a large rebound after the sharp correction and made aggressive bets.
Despite the domestic market turning deeply negative on concerns that the Middle East crisis could drag on, individual investors seem to have viewed the situation as a bargain‐hunting opportunity. Many judged that this was only a temporary source of volatility and that the medium‐ to long‐term growth momentum of the Korean stock market remains intact.
However, some analysts warn that, with war risks still in play and short‐term volatility elevated, investors need to be especially cautious when trading leveraged products.
Because leveraged ETFs track the daily percentage change rather than cumulative returns, they are subject to a "negative compounding" effect. If the underlying index surges one day and then plunges the next, the index itself may end up roughly flat, but investors in leveraged ETFs can still suffer losses.

moon@fnnews.com Moon Young-jin Reporter