In the first half of this year, the ETF market saw a remarkable performance from Mirae Asset Global Investments' TIGER brand in terms of returns. Conversely, Samsung Asset Management's KODEX maintained a significant lead in trading volume.
According to the Korea Exchange on July 2, the top-performing ETF for the first half of the year (January 2 to June 30) was the TIGER 200 IT Leverage, which surged 764.07% compared to the end of last year, marking the highest return among all ETFs. Following closely were the KODEX Semiconductor Leverage at 493.8% and the TIGER Semiconductor TOP10 Leverage at 361.23%.
Other notable performers included the HANARO 200 Futures Leverage at 331.93%, PLUS 200 Futures Leverage at 328.40%, TIGER Leverage at 327.82%, and TIGER 200 Futures Leverage at 327.05%, with most of the top spots occupied by leverage ETFs.
When looking at returns by brand, TIGER ETFs accounted for more than half of the top performers. With strong investments in semiconductors and the KOSPI 200, Mirae Asset Global Investments claimed the title of "return champion" for the first half of the year.
In contrast, KODEX showed a dominant presence in trading volume. The KODEX Leverage recorded approximately 266.6 trillion won in trading volume, followed by KODEX 200 with about 246.8 trillion won. The KODEX 200 Futures Inverse 2X saw 114.8 trillion won, while KODEX KOSDAQ 150 Leverage reached 105.4 trillion won.
On the other hand, inverse ETFs that bet against the market's rise faced significant losses. The KIWOOM 200 Futures Inverse 2X dropped by 89.26%, while PLUS 200 Futures Inverse 2X fell by 88.96%, TIGER 200 Futures Inverse 2X by 88.94%, and KODEX 200 Futures Inverse 2X by 88.55%. General inverse products like KIWOOM 200 Futures Inverse and HANARO 200 Futures Inverse also saw declines of 63.77% and 63.38%, respectively.
The first half of this year also marked a period of solid establishment for single-stock leverage ETFs. Benefiting from the strong performance of AI semiconductors, products related to SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics attracted significant trading volume and returns, drawing investor interest.
Among the single-stock leverage ETFs launched on May 27, the KODEX SK Hynix Single-Stock Leverage recorded the highest return at 47.14%. It was followed by TIGER SK Hynix Single-Stock Leverage at 45.81%, ACE SK Hynix Single-Stock Leverage at 44.46%, RISE SK Hynix Single-Stock Leverage at 44.04%, and SOL SK Hynix Single-Stock Leverage at 43.29%.
In contrast, most Samsung Electronics single-stock leverage ETFs remained in the 12-13% range for returns. The TIGER Samsung Electronics Single-Stock Leverage rose by 13.09%, RISE by 13.05%, PLUS by 13.02%, and KODEX by 12.99%. Compared to SK Hynix products, the returns were more than three times lower.
Trading also focused heavily on SK Hynix products. The KODEX SK Hynix Single-Stock Leverage saw trading volume of approximately 95.2 trillion won, the highest among all single-stock ETFs. The TIGER SK Hynix Single-Stock Leverage recorded about 51.9 trillion won in trading volume. Among Samsung Electronics products, KODEX Samsung Electronics Single-Stock Leverage had the highest trading volume at around 52.8 trillion won.
Conversely, inverse products that bet on declines recorded substantial losses. The SOL SK Hynix Futures Single-Stock Inverse 2X fell by 63.58%, and PLUS Samsung Electronics Futures Single-Stock Inverse 2X dropped by 41.18%.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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