Hana Asset Leads Returns, Samsung Asset Dominates Trading Volume in New Leveraged Products
Witnessing robust investor interest, South Korea’s inaugural single-stock leveraged products, specifically those linked to market giants Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, experienced double-digit surges on their trading debut Wednesday morning, as the Kospi index firmly maintained its position above the 8,000 level.
Amidst the strong market activity, Samsung Asset Management emerged as the leader in trading volume, while Hana Asset Management secured the highest returns among competitors.
According to data from the Korea Exchange, Samsung Electronics shares advanced by 2.68 percent, or 8,000 won, closing at 307,000 won ($204.35). Similarly, SK hynix climbed significantly by 9.31 percent, settling at approximately 2.243 million won.
The standout performer among these new financial instruments was a leveraged fund directly linked to SK hynix, which notably achieved double-digit gains.
Hana Asset Management’s SK hynix single-stock leveraged product recorded an impressive 19.46 percent increase, closing at 22,460 won. This marked the strongest return observed among all comparable products launched on Wednesday.
Other prominent asset managers also reported substantial gains from their SK hynix single-stock leveraged products. Kiwoom Asset Management secured the second-highest return at 19.23 percent.
Among the major asset management firms, Shinhan Asset Management posted gains of 18.7 percent, followed closely by Korea Investment Management at 18.63 percent, Mirae Asset Management at 18.56 percent, KB Asset Management at 18.47 percent, and Samsung Asset Management at 18.44 percent.
Leveraged products associated with Samsung Electronics also delivered significant gains, roughly doubling the underlying stock’s daily increase.
In this category, Hana Asset Management achieved the highest return at 5.97 percent, with KB Asset Management following at 5.61 percent, Mirae Asset Management at 5.53 percent, Samsung Asset Management at 5.52 percent, and Kiwoom Asset Management at 5.43 percent.
Industry experts within the asset management sector highlighted that securing advantageous prices during intraday futures trading proved more critical than complex portfolio management techniques, including in-kind contribution structures.
“What truly mattered was the ability to acquire futures contracts at attractive prices within trading hours,” an official elaborated. “The precise timing of executing futures trades was the pivotal factor behind these superior returns.”
The official further explained that as these are passive products tracking identical underlying assets, their returns are expected to converge over time.
“Ultimately, since these are passive investment products linked to the same underlying stocks, their performance will naturally become more aligned over a longer period,” the official concluded.
Approximately 10 trillion won flowed into single-stock products on their debut day alone, with Samsung Asset Management capturing more than half of this total trading volume.
Specifically, its KODEX SK hynix single-stock leverage product attracted 4.388 trillion won during the day, while its KODEX Samsung Electronics single-stock leverage product saw 1.948 trillion won in inflows.
Mirae Asset Management also attracted trillions of won in trading value across its leveraged products tied to SK hynix and Samsung Electronics.
Mirae Asset Management ranked second in volume for SK hynix-linked products, with 2.0608 trillion won. Its Samsung Electronics leveraged product also garnered 1.0016 trillion won in trading value.
Samsung Asset Management maintained a commanding lead in overall trading volume. Its KODEX SK hynix Single Stock Leverage product recorded an impressive 152 million shares traded, significantly outpacing Mirae Asset Management’s TIGER SK hynix Single Stock Leverage product, which saw 80 million shares traded.
Despite continuous warnings from financial authorities regarding the inherent trading risks associated with single-stock leveraged products, the market for these instruments is projected to expand further as both new retail investors and seasoned leveraged traders actively participate.
The website of the Korea Financial Investment Association’s Financial Investment Education Institute experienced temporary outages on Wednesday when single-stock leveraged products linked to Samsung Electronics and SK hynix launched on South Korea’s stock market. This disruption followed a surge in traffic the previous night, between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., which caused repeated access issues.
Industry officials noted that while single-stock leveraged products are generally advised for short-term trading and experienced leveraged investors, demand for these specialized financial products is likely to persist and grow as long as the broader Kospi rally continues and semiconductor heavyweights maintain their market leadership.
“As long as the Kospi market rally endures and leading chipmakers remain at the forefront, investor appetite for these leveraged products is expected to expand considerably,” an industry official affirmed.
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