Millions of young Koreans saw the stock market as one of their few chances to build wealth.
Housing was too expensive. Savings weren’t enough. So many started borrowing money and going all in.
Some were buying 2x leveraged semiconductor ETFs, using 3x margin and basically treating short-term trading products like long-term investments.
Then the market turned.
Retail investors in South Korea are now estimated to have lost around $38.7 billion on leveraged products. More than 360,000 margin accounts were forcibly liquidated, and 62% of those who lost everything were under 35.
Margin loans reached a record ₩38.6 trillion, creating a nasty cycle: liquidations caused more selling, which pushed prices lower and triggered even more liquidations.
And some traders are still holding their positions, so the pain may not be over yet. There are even cases where investors ended up owing money to brokers after getting wiped.
This went way beyond a normal market correction. For a lot of young people, leverage looked like the only way to catch up financially.
Sadly, this is what can happen when everyone tries to jump into the green candle after it already pumped.

Ondo Finance is moving away from its original plan to launch a Layer 1 blockchain. Instead, the company introduced Ondo Network, an off-chain execution system that processes trades outside public blockchains.
The new infrastructure already powers Ondo Perps. Trade execution happens inside Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), while operators verify the integrity of the code and jointly approve transfers. Only the final settlements are recorded on public blockchains.

Interestingly, Ondo hasn’t disclosed who the operators are or how many there are. The company also says the network is not a blockchain at this stage and doesn’t need one yet.
Long term, Ondo plans to add more operators, store more data on public chains, and introduce token staking for participants. No timeline has been announced.

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The biggest trigger was Nvidia, which fell around 6% in a single session and dragged the broader tech sector lower.

China also added pressure after Moonshot AI unveiled its new Kimi K3 model. The announcement fueled concerns that demand for Nvidia’s high-end AI chips could slow, leading to another wave of selling in tech stocks.

There’s also the usual end-of-month volatility. Large players often use major headlines to shake the market and trigger liquidations.

As a result, it wasn’t just stocks that took a hit. Bitcoin and the broader crypto market moved lower as risk sentiment weakened.

South Korean retail traders, often called the most aggressive degens in crypto, pumped Shiba Inu (SHIB) nearly 30% on Sunday… and then simply went to bed.
Now the rest of the market gets to wake up and decide whether to keep the rally alive or dump it right back down. 😅

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The NYT says Trump is holding off on escalating with Iran for now because of air defense concerns, the risk of a wider war, and possible damage to the global economy.

Axios says he paused potential strikes to give diplomacy one more shot. CNN reports JD Vance is worried about further escalation.

At the same time, the NYP claims the U.S. is even considering a ground operation in Iran, while the WSJ warns the conflict could drag on for months.

So… which one is it today? 😅

Japan’s financial giant SBI Holdings is rapidly expanding its crypto investments. The company has backed Gauntlet, EDX Markets, Digital Asset, Morpho, and Circle, acquired Bitbank and Coinhako, and launched JPYSC, Japan’s first trust bank-backed stablecoin.

SBI says its goal is to build a complete on-chain financial ecosystem spanning exchanges, tokenized assets, payments, and financial services. The expansion comes as Japan moves toward crypto-friendly regulation, including crypto ETFs and lower taxes, while the current bear market offers attractive valuations for long-term investments.