Hong Kong 26-Year-Old Trader Misappropriates HK$50 Million to Bet Big on Hynix ETF, Suffers HK$150 Million Loss

According to Tencent News "YiXian", a 26-year-old male trader at Hong Kong Zhi Fu Management Services Limited misappropriated 50 million HKD of company funds as margin without authorization between January 9 and July 20 this year, using financing leverage to heavily buy the HKEX-listed CSOP 2x Long SK Hynix ETF (07709.HK), ultimately resulting in paper losses of up to 150 million HKD. Driven by the memory chip theme, the ETF surged to a historical high of HKD 193.65 at the end of June this year, but subsequently the semiconductor sector corrected sharply. As of July 20, it had plummeted to HKD 52.58, a decline of over 72%. Hong Kong financial professionals analyzed that the combination of double leverage from margin financing and the 2x Long ETF was the main reason why the 50 million principal turned into a 150 million huge loss. The incident was uncovered during the company's recent audit. The man involved was arrested by the police on July 20 on suspicion of "theft". Currently, the relevant stock positions have not yet been forcibly liquidated, and the final loss remains uncertain. After the incident, some clients of Zhi Fu Securities made risk-avoidance withdrawals.