South Korean investors’ buy settlement volume in the U.S.-listed Direxion Daily MSCI South Korea Bull 3X ETF (KORU) reached $397.26 million, or approximately ₩550 billion, from July 26 through August 25, ranking ninth among all overseas equities, according to Korea Securities Depository data published through its SEIBro securities information portal on August 26. KORU targets three times the daily return of the MSCI Korea Index, allowing investors to convert won into dollars to make a leveraged bet on a Korean stock-market rally. Domestic investors can trade ETFs targeting twice the daily return of the KOSPI 200, and net purchases during the same period reached ₩38.1 billion for KODEX Leverage and ₩1.5 billion for TIGER Leverage. The combined total was approximately ₩39.6 billion. SK Hynix American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) also recorded $506.89 million, or approximately ₩700 billion, in buy settlement volume, ranking sixth among overseas equities, while net buy settlements reached $190.55 million, or approximately ₩260 billion, ranking seventh. Samsung Securities senior analyst Han Su-jin said the U.S. ETF market has recorded net inflows for 51 consecutive months, with active ETFs absorbing demand for tactical rebalancing and derivatives strategies. Cumulative net inflows reached $1.23 trillion, approximately ₩1,702 trillion, through July of this year. The expanding range of two- and three-times products offers more choices across markets, sectors and individual stocks, but leverage magnifies losses and daily compounding can erode returns during volatile markets even when an underlying index returns to its starting level. Hana Securities analyst Park Seung-jin said ETF portfolios should account for volatility and that investors should consider representative index ETFs or flexible management strategies while semiconductor-sector fluctuations persist.