In the single-stock leveraged exchange-traded fund (ETF) market based on Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, people in their 40s accounted for the largest share in both the number of investors and investment size.
On the 3rd, four major domestic securities firms—Korea Investment, Samsung, KB, and NH Investment & Securities—combined the investment status for four trading days from the 27th of last month to the 1st of this month for 14 single-stock leveraged products (excluding two inverse products), finding a total of 70,850 investors and a total investment amount of 3.2755 trillion won. The average investment per investor was about 46.23 million won.
By age group, participation by people in their 40s stood out the most. The number of investors in their 40s was 20,489, accounting for 28.9% of the total. Their investment amount was also the largest among all age groups at a total of 1.2255 trillion won (31.2%).
This contrasts with the investor distribution in the traditional stock market. Looking at the status of shareholders of listed companies with settlement of account in December last year, which the Korea Securities Depository (KSD) released in March, domestic individual shareholders as of the end of last year were most numerous in their 50s (23.1%), followed by those in their 40s (21.8%). In particular, by the number of shares owned, people in their 50s (34.4%) and 60s (26.6%) had large shares, while those in their 40s remained at 18.6%.
By contrast, in single-stock leveraged products with high volatility, people in their 40s emerged as the market's "big players."
By number of investors, people in their 50s (28.7%) closely followed those in their 40s, with those in their 30s (22.2%), 60s (11.5%), and 20s (6.5%) next. Investors aged 40 and under made up nearly 60% of the total.
To invest in these products, investors must complete an additional one hour of advanced training on top of the existing one hour of prior training. As of the 31st, there were 380,000 training applicants, and about 350,000 of them completed the full two-hour training program.
In total investment amount, people in their 50s followed those in their 40s with 27.9% (912.5 billion won). Although the number of investors in their 40s and 50s was similar, the investment amount for those in their 40s was more by over 100 billion won. Next were those in their 30s at 19.4%, the 60s at 12.9%, and the 20s at 5.5%. By amount as well, those aged 40 and under accounted for about 60%, outpacing those in their 50s and older.
However, the average investment per person was higher among older age groups with larger asset scales. Those 70 and older had the highest at 64 million won, followed by those in their 60s (51 million won). The average per-person investment for those in their 40s was 50 million won, higher than those in their 50s (45 million won).