According to a Reuters report on July 21, Lee Seung-ho, a 24-year-old South Korean university student, used a trading app with 5x leverage to grow his 20 million won savings from his military service to nearly 300 million won, approximately 15 times his initial investment. However, after the sharp fluctuations in the South Korean stock market in May, his brokerage firm triggered repeated forced liquidations, wiping out all his gains within four weeks, ultimately leaving his account balance below his initial investment. Lee stated that the pressure at the time was so intense that he "really couldn't breathe," but he still plans to continue trading with margin loans after rebuilding his capital.

Lee stated that his goal is to buy a home in Seoul. The average price of an apartment in Seoul is roughly equivalent to 14 years' salary. Some young South Koreans believe that traditional wealth accumulation paths are no longer viable, and therefore see highly leveraged stock trading as a way to catch up with asset prices. He claimed that when stocks are rising, a 5x leverage can increase wealth growth fivefold, but also acknowledged that consistently being fully invested will ultimately lead to losses.

Data from the Korea Financial Investment Association shows that the outstanding balance of margin loans in the South Korean stock market rose to a record 38.63 trillion won on June 24, and remained at 34.37 trillion won as of July 15. More extensive statistics from the Bank of Korea show that, including other forms of borrowing, total investor debt exceeded 60 trillion won for the first time at the end of May. During the same period, the KOSPI index more than doubled in six months, but subsequently experienced several weeks of declines exceeding 10%.

South Korean regulators have announced a suspension of new listings for leveraged ETFs linked to single stocks, products that were approved only about two months ago. Exness strategist Inki Cho stated that this is a policy correction to the regulators' previous hasty approval of such products; in highly volatile markets, leveraged products can amplify losses much faster than they can create wealth.