On the 27th, when single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on Samsung Electronics and SK hynix were listed for the first time on the domestic stock market, the Korea Financial Investment Association's Financial Investment Education Center website was paralyzed.
According to the financial investment industry, from the morning the Financial Investment Education Center website has been difficult to use due to continued access delays and login errors. It is seen that servers were overloaded as investors rushed at once to obtain completion numbers (education codes) for the training required to transact single-stock leveraged ETFs.
There had also been an access failure the previous night. From 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on the 26th, simultaneous users surged, delaying site use; it was restored afterward, but access instability reappeared on the morning of the day.
According to the Korea Exchange (KRX), eight managers—Samsung, Mirae Asset, Korea Investment, KB, Shinhan, Hanwha, Kiwoom, and Hana Asset Management—simultaneously listed 16 single-stock leveraged and inverse ETFs based on Samsung Electronics and SK hynix on the domestic stock market on the day. The total planned listing size is about 4.3 trillion won.
These products track the daily return of the underlying asset at ±2 times, and are classified as high-risk products with greater volatility and loss risk than general ETFs. Accordingly, financial authorities introduced requirements for pre-education completion and a basic deposit of 10 million won to protect investors.
Before a transaction, investors must complete related training at the Financial Investment Education Center. If there is no prior experience investing in leveraged ETFs, one must take "Domestic and overseas leveraged ETF guide" and "Single-stock leveraged and inverse pre-education" for one hour each, totaling two hours. If there is prior investment experience, only the one-hour advanced course needs to be completed.
After completing the training, the completion number must be registered on a securities firm's mobile trading system (MTS) or website for actual transactions to be possible.
According to the Financial Investment Education Center, as of the 21st, applicants for pre-education on single-stock leveraged and inverse exchange-traded products (ETPs) exceeded 100,000, and about 90,000 had completed it. However, as investor demand surged right before the listing, the number of visitors for the day the previous day reportedly topped 60,000.