South Korean retail investors sharply increased purchases of U.S. stocks in July, with net buying reaching about $4.6 billion as a domestic market crash, leveraged-product losses and continued foreign selling pushed individuals back toward overseas equities. Korea Securities Depository data showed the July total was the largest monthly amount since January 2026, up 627% from June's $633 million and well above the $2.7 billion monthly average in 2025. It was also the first month since February that U.S. equities attracted more retail capital than Korean shares. The shift followed a historic selloff in the KOSPI, which remained about 33% below its June peak by August 7 after its worst monthly performance since the 2008 global financial crisis. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix were at the center of the slump, accounting for about 76% of the KOSPI's 2,257.8 trillion won, or roughly $1.59 trillion, loss in market value. Retail losses were amplified by single-stock leveraged ETFs tied to the two chipmakers, with Citi estimating losses from those products alone at $38.7 billion as assets in the funds plunged from about $50 billion in June to $17 billion by late July. Forced liquidations, record trading halts and shrinking cash balances in local stock accounts underscored the scale of deleveraging, while foreign investors continued to withdraw money from Korean equities. The exodus to U.S. stocks marks a sharp reversal from the earlier reshoring trade that had been supported by tax incentives and hopes for governance reform.