From 3x Gains to 70% Losses: My Experience and Strategy with Leveraged SK Hynix Holdings

This chart shows analyst ratings from July 8. Looking back after more than twenty days, it still holds reference value.

The highest target price is 4.7 million KRW, the average is 3.2 million, and the lowest is 1.03 million. The current price at that time was approximately 2.07 million KRW.

Now, SK Hynix's Korean stock has fallen below 1.3 million KRW—the actual trend has dropped even lower than the lowest target price. The trumpet mouth opened wider than anyone expected, coming unexpectedly. However, no one overturned the judgment that the overall trend is upward.

Let me share my own situation.

I hold both the underlying shares of SK Hynix and its two-times leveraged long product. Moreover, the position size in the leveraged product is larger than that in the underlying shares.

Leveraged products are not suitable for long-term holding; this principle was verified when I bought the two-times leveraged Tesla product earlier this year. At that time, for safety, I unloaded the Tesla leverage and focused solely on the underlying shares. So why did I buy the two-times leveraged SK Hynix this time? Because before SK Hynix's underlying shares were listed on the US stock market, I had no other choice—I could only participate through leveraged products. Even today, I remain bullish on this company.

After buying, I experienced a 3x gain turning into a loss, and also experienced a rebound where half the profit was earned. Subsequently, the underlying shares were listed on the US stock market. The anticipated surge did not come; instead, we were targeted by Wall Street. Before the leveraged product could be rolled over, it started to plummet.

I want to say a few words to fellow investors who have been bearing this leveraged product together.

Do not feel guilty, and do not put such immense psychological pressure on yourselves. Our choice was not wrong; with market sentiment at this level, even immortals couldn't stop it.

There are many "hindsight experts" outside complaining about you and blaming you. But don't take those words to heart. From start to finish, we have been facing it ourselves and bearing the consequences. Don't let others' straw weigh down on you.

Here is my plan going forward:

The leveraged product currently has a loss of about 70%. To recover costs in the short term and return to a unit price of over 100 is almost impossible. Facing reality, I will gradually reduce the leveraged product position during rebounds. Once funds are recovered, I will move them to the underlying shares at low positions.

I originally trade short-term, so I will use this advantage to do intraday T trades (day trading) with small positions in the leveraged product, but it depends on daily volatility. Later, I will reduce the leveraged product position at high levels, keeping an extremely small position, or possibly unloading it completely.

The loss is significant, and I accept it and am willing to bear it. But I do not believe I was completely wrong. The magical market conditions in June and July exceeded the imagination of ordinary investors.

These words are for everyone who is still holding on.

I am very fortunate that in every extreme experience in the market, I have managed to withstand it. The stock market can be extreme, but we people cannot go to extremes.

Every time I see you feeling sad in the comments section, I empathize deeply. But please, endure it. The world is big, and the investment journey is long. What happens today, looking back in the future, will just be a small matter. We ourselves are the participants in this market—no matter when, acknowledge your own value and greatness.

Let's talk about the current market situation.

Last night, the US stock night market saw a rebound. SK Group Chairman Choi Tae-won bought 3,620 shares of his own company during the session (approximately $3.31 million), driving SK Hynix ADRs from a drop of nearly 5% up to a rise of about 1%. The storage sector as a whole warmed up, with Micron rising 3.5% and SanDisk rising over 6%.

However, the recent continuous pattern of "pre-market bull traps and post-market crashes" leaves me with lingering fear. I plan to sell a small portion of my Micron position at high levels to reduce psychological pressure. Most of the position remains; if Micron continues to rise after the market opens, I won't miss out.

As someone deeply trapped, I do not want to inject more capital and keep adding bets like a gambler. I will use the funds already in the account to slowly churn and slowly recover costs.

Tomorrow, July 31, new policies in Korea will land, potentially becoming a turning point.

No matter the result, we have survived the deep drop and are still standing here now, which is already a victory, already being warriors. This world does not define heroes solely by achieving results. Even without immediate results, having the courage to lift one's head and straighten one's spine makes one a strong person.$Micron Tech(MU.US) $SK Hynix(SKHY.US) $XL2CSOPHYNIX(07709.HK)