A retail investor who engaged in aggressive leveraged investments based on a rising semiconductor market revealed that their asset value has plummeted by more than half in just a month.
Recently, a post titled 'My Life is Ruined by Hynix Leverage' appeared on an online community.
The author of the post, identified as A, stated that they began investing with 200 million won (approximately $150,000) last October and grew their assets to 400 million won (about $300,000) by March of this year through investments in SK Hynix and semiconductor-related stocks. They continued to generate profits from cosmetics, department stores, energy storage systems, and semiconductor materials, reaching a peak valuation of 550 million won (around $410,000).
However, A explained that they believed semiconductors were still undervalued and concentrated their investments in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, utilizing 2x leveraged products and margin trading, effectively going all-in.
The results A shared were devastating.
They reported, 'In just a month, my asset valuation dropped from 550 million won to 220 million won.' While this is still a slight profit compared to the initial investment of 200 million won, it represents a valuation loss of over 300 million won from the peak, causing significant stress.
A expressed, 'After working for ten years, I thought I finally built my wealth during this market rise, but I lost over 300 million won in just a month. I regret that if I hadn’t used 2x leverage, my losses would have been much smaller.'
A also asked other investors if they had similar experiences of life being ruined by leverage.
According to the post, A identified leveraged investment as the cause of their losses. Due to the structure of leveraged stocks, which have greater volatility than regular stocks, losses can accumulate much faster if stock prices move contrary to expectations. Financial authorities have repeatedly warned that single-stock leveraged products are high-risk investments with much greater volatility than regular stocks and are more suitable for short-term strategies rather than long-term holding.
Online commenters noted that losses from peak valuations are a common psychological burden for investors.
They remarked, 'What hurts more is how much I lost from the peak compared to my principal,' 'If I start averaging down from here, I could lose my entire principal,' 'Profits feel like my money, but I can’t accept losses, so I keep averaging down,' and 'Leverage loses money much faster than it makes money. Greed ultimately destroys accounts.'
Some commenters added, 'At least I still have my principal, so that’s a relief,' 'In times like this, it’s crucial to clear margin trades first,' and 'Even if the semiconductor outlook is good, leverage is a completely different investment,' emphasizing the need to be cautious of further losses.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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