South Korea's Frenzied Stock Trading Exposes Margin Loan Risks

A Reuters report highlights the dangers of high-leverage margin trading in South Korea, focusing on 24-year-old university student Lee Seung-ho, who saw a 300 million won fortune built on 500% leverage evaporate in weeks due to market swings. The Kospi index, after doubling in six months, experienced violent plunges, triggering forced liquidations. Margin loan balances hit a record 38.63 trillion won in June 2026. Young South Koreans, locked out of the housing market by high apartment prices, turn to leveraged stock trading as a perceived equalizer. Despite his losses, Lee plans to borrow again to buy a Seoul apartment. Regulators are alarmed by the risky trading frenzy.

First published Aug 4, 02:58 PM UTCUpdated Jul 20, 03:18 PM UTC1 reports · 1 sources

Editorial responsibility

Prepared by: WorldAttention Editorial Systems
Human review: No named human review is recorded for this page.
Automated steps: Reports are grouped by semantic similarity and deterministic rules. Language models may assist titles, summaries, translation and cross-source analysis; the page itself is projected from evidence records.
Page status: Current automated evidence projection
Last updated: Jul 20, 03:18 PM UTCEditorial record as of Aug 4, 02:58 PM UTC

How automation and AI are used · Report a correction or rights issue

Wire timeline

currentJul 20, 03:18 PM UTC

South Korea's Frenzied Stock Trading Exposes Margin Loan Risks

Coverage sources

External reporting used to assemble this Story.

South Korea's Frenzied Stock Trading Exposes Margin Loan RisksYahoo FinanceWesternJul 20, 03:18 PM UTC

Follow the context

South Korea Seoul