Leveraged chip ETFs test Korea's market structure

Surging trading in South Korea's single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds tracking Samsung Electronics and SK hynix is raising concerns that the products are no longer just following the market but beginning to amplify swings in the country's two biggest chip stocks — and, by extension, the Kospi.

On some trading days, turnover in leveraged ETFs linked to SK hynix has reached as much as 65 percent of trading in the underlying stock.

The unusually high ratio, analysts say, can magnify short-t ...