Korea Margin Balance Weekly Monitor: KOSDAQ Deleveraging Is the Signal
A KOFIA FreeSIS-based weekly monitor for Korea margin financing balances, split by KOSPI and KOSDAQ, with investor-deposit context through 2026-06-30.
This note answers one market-structure question: did Korean equities add leverage over the last week, or has margin risk started to unwind.
The answer is mixed. Total margin financing fell by roughly KRW 0.77 trillion from 2026-06-23 to 2026-06-30, but KOSPI margin balances rose slightly while KOSDAQ balances fell sharply.
The risk read is that Korea is not seeing broad forced deleveraging across the whole market. The stress is concentrated in KOSDAQ, while investor deposits fell even faster than margin balances, lifting the margin-to-deposit ratio.
Korea margin balance monitor · KOFIA daily data through 2026-06-30
Korea's margin balance is not broad leverage build-up; the stress is KOSDAQ deleveraging
KOFIA's latest available daily observation is 2026-06-30. Over the last calendar week, margin financing fell from KRW 38.09T to KRW 37.33T, a net drop of KRW 0.77T. The headline decline was almost entirely driven by KOSDAQ.
Margin financing
37.33T KRW
As of 2026-06-30, converted from KOFIA million KRW data
One-week change
-0.77T
2026-06-23 to 2026-06-30, about -2.01%
KOSDAQ contribution
-0.87T
KOSDAQ margin balance fell about -9.67%
Margin / investor deposits
30.7%
Cash buffers fell faster than margin debt
Margin financing balance, KRW trillion
One-week change breakdown
Total
-765B
KOSPI
+101B
KOSDAQ
-867B
Read-through: this is not broad large-cap deleveraging. KOSDAQ's share of credit financing fell from 23.5% to 21.7% in the sample window.
Daily table: margin financing balance
Date
Total T KRW
KOSPI T
KOSDAQ T
DoD B KRW
DoD%
2026-06-23
38.094
29.133
8.960
--
--
2026-06-24
38.633
29.754
8.879
+539.2
+1.42%
2026-06-25
38.048
29.389
8.659
-584.4
-1.51%
2026-06-26
37.762
29.330
8.432
-286.8
-0.75%
2026-06-29
37.807
29.425
8.382
+45.4
+0.12%
2026-06-30
37.328
29.235
8.094
-478.8
-1.27%
Market read
Not a broad forced unwindKOSPI margin balances rose by roughly KRW 0.10T over the week, so the large-cap side did not deleverage in sync.
KOSDAQ is the pressure pointKOSDAQ margin fell from KRW 8.96T to KRW 8.09T. A break below KRW 8T would raise reflexive small-cap risk.
Cash buffer is thinnerInvestor deposits fell from KRW 136.8T to KRW 121.6T, so the margin-to-deposit ratio rose from 27.8% to 30.7%.
Next thresholds
Metric
Bullish stabilization
Risk signal
KOSDAQ margin balance
Holds above KRW 8T and rebounds
Breaks below KRW 8T and keeps falling
Total margin balance
Reclaims KRW 38T without a one-day spike
Falls toward sub-KRW 37T
Investor deposits
Recovers toward KRW 130T
Stays below KRW 122T
Source: KOFIA FreeSIS credit extension balance trend and stock market funds trend. Data are settlement-date based and latest available daily observation is 2026-06-30. Unit conversion: KOFIA values in million KRW converted into trillion/billion KRW for display.
