BlockBeats News, August 5th. Starting from July 31st, the South Korean financial regulatory authority has significantly increased the base margin requirement for domestic and foreign single-stock leverage products from a mix of securities to a pure cash amount of 30 million South Korean Won, up from 10 million South Korean Won. Subsequently, South Korean retail investors have swiftly adjusted their investment portfolios. According to data from the Korea Securities Depository, the 2x leveraged product TSLL for Tesla recorded a net inflow of $14.58 million on August 3rd. However, on the 4th, the inflow plummeted from the previous day to $1.56 million, while the outflow rose to $8.68 million, resulting in a net outflow of $7.11 million for the day. During the same period, the net inflow for Tesla spot transactions reached $42.3 million, more than five times the net inflow of TSLL.Micron Technology and SanDisk also exhibited a similar trend. The 2x leveraged product for Micron, which saw a net inflow of $10.81 million on the 3rd, reversed to a net outflow of $15.98 million on the 4th. Meanwhile, the 2x leveraged product for SanDisk shifted from a net inflow of $17.74 million to a net outflow of $33.74 million. Concurrently, the spot transactions for both companies saw a net inflow of $148 million and $145 million, respectively, indicating a significant capital movement from leveraged instruments to the underlying stocks.This regulatory tightening mandates that the base margin must be paid in cash, excluding alternative securities such as stocks, ETFs, and bonds. Existing investors must also meet the new standards when adding to their positions. There are no restrictions on selling; however, the proceeds from sales will only count towards the cash margin after a T+2 settlement. The new regulations were initially planned to be implemented in stages in August. Due to concerns that restricting it to Korean products would lead to a flow of funds towards overseas leveraged products like Tesla and NVIDIA, creating a balloon effect, the South Korean regulatory authority advanced the implementation date to July 31st and applied it simultaneously to domestic and foreign products.South Korean investors have strongly reacted to this, believing that extending measures aimed at local market volatility to overseas products constitutes excessive intervention. They also argue that requiring only South Korean investors to meet the 30 million South Korean Won cash threshold puts them at a disadvantage in global competition.
