'40 years of savings gone — down W2.2b': Investor claims total ruin after all-in SK Hynix leveraged ETF bet

A post claiming that an investor lost more than 2.2 billion won ($1.53 million) — every won saved over 40 years — by putting everything into a single leveraged product has drawn widespread attention online.

On Thursday, a post appeared on Blind, an anonymous community platform for office workers, showing what appeared to be the brokerage account of an investor, identified only as A, who said they suffered catastrophic losses on an SK Hynix leveraged fund.

"Minus 2.2 billion won from 40 years of savings. I lost everything I had and went completely bankrupt starting today," A wrote.

"I have no idea where it all went wrong," A said, adding: "I trusted the government, bought into the SK Hynix leveraged product the moment it launched, and ultimately lost everything today."

The post included what appeared to be a screenshot of an actual brokerage account.

The image showed what appeared to be an unrealized loss of approximately 2.2 billion won (78.7%) on an investment in the KODEX SK Hynix Single-Stock Leverage product. The total purchase amount was listed at approximately 2.8 billion won, with total proceeds from sales at approximately 594.06 million won.

"I even sold my house to keep investing in shares, and I'm filled with so much regret and anguish," A wrote. "I resent the people who pushed me into stocks. I want to seek damages — is there any way to do that?"

However, the authenticity of the investment records has not been verified, and the post has since been deleted.

Online commenters were skeptical. "Someone with the ability to build up 2.2 billion won wouldn't blow it all on impulsive trading driven by others' opinions — this is fabricated," one user wrote, while another said, "No matter how I look at it, it seems like a lie." Some were more sympathetic: "I know someone who lost 4 billion won in one go, so I think it's possible."

Leveraged ETFs track two or more times the daily return of an underlying asset. While they can generate large gains in a rising market, they carry significant risk of rapid principal loss during share price corrections and periods of high volatility, and investors are urged to exercise caution.