South Korean buyers turned their Chuseok vacation into per week of aggressive risk-taking, funneling $1.24 billion into US tech and crypto-linked belongings whereas home markets have been closed between October 3 and 9.
Key Takeaways:
South Korean buyers poured $1.24 billion into US tech and crypto-linked belongings throughout the Chuseok vacation week.
High buys included Tesla, Meta, and Bitcoin mining shares, with leveraged ETFs main the surge.
The shopping for spree ended abruptly as US–China commerce tensions triggered a worldwide market pullback.
As an alternative of taking day without work throughout the nation’s Thanksgiving break, retail buyers piled into leveraged ETFs and high-growth shares, in accordance with information from the Korea Securities Depository.
The preferred goal was the Direxion Day by day Tesla Bull 2X ETF, a leveraged fund that amplifies Tesla’s inventory actions, with web purchases totaling $151 million.
Different high buys included $105 million in Iris Vitality, an Australian Bitcoin mining agency; $100 million in Meta Platforms, and $96 million in Tesla shares themselves.
One other leveraged crypto play, the T-REX 2X Lengthy BMNR Day by day Goal ETF, which tracks Bitmine Immersion Applied sciences with double publicity, ranked fifth amongst international purchases at round $95 million.
The spree adopted a powerful rally in Seoul, the place the Kospi Index hit new highs earlier than the vacation amid optimism over US tech resilience and native stimulus plans.
With Korean exchanges closed, that bullish sentiment appeared to spill abroad as buyers chased Wall Avenue’s momentum.
However timing might have labored towards them. The surge in cross-border shopping for got here simply days earlier than international markets tumbled on renewed US–China commerce tensions, erasing a part of the earlier week’s features.
Analysts say it stays to be seen whether or not Korean retail merchants, recognized for his or her danger urge for food and agility, will keep such aggressive publicity.
The Kospi reopened 1.7% decrease on Monday, slipping again under the three,600 degree and hinting that the Chuseok rally might have been short-lived.
In August, South Korea’s monetary regulator moved to rein in dangerous lending practices within the digital asset sector, ordering native exchanges to droop all crypto lending providers till a correct regulatory framework is established.
The crackdown got here amid South Korea’s broader pivot towards regulated crypto adoption. Authorities are lifting restrictions on institutional buying and selling and getting ready to approve the nation’s first spot crypto ETFs.
