Today to Understand: KORU /
#KORU ✅ Underlying assets: the MSCI Korea 25/50 Index, heavily weighted in Samsung ≈23%, SK Hynix ≈19%, plus Hyundai, NAVER, etc., tied to Korea’s semiconductor industry + export economy
✅ Design goal: daily rise/fall ≈ (that day’s index rise/fall) ×3 (after fees)
✅ Quotation unit: US dollars / USDT, not KRW; trading is 24 hours—no need for a US stock / Korean stock account
✅ In essence: a daily rebalancing leveraged product, not a fixed “Korean stock price ×3” multiplier
❓ Why does the price differ from Korean stocks / KOSPI?
One sentence: the underlying assets, denomination, time window, mechanism, and costs are all different—so the price must be different.
1️⃣ What it tracks is not the same index at all
Korean stocks: KOSPI/KOSDAQ, KRW-denominated, reflecting the local market
KORU: MSCI Korea Index, USD-denominated; the constituents, weights, and index construction rules are different from the start, so it already deviates
On top of that, there’s another layer: the US stock ETF EWY; then a further 3x leverage is added—making the path longer
2️⃣ Trading hours + exchange rates are misaligned (twice)
Korean market: 9:00–15:30 (KRW)
EWY (US stock ETF): 9:30–16:00 (USD)
KORU / Binance: 24-hour continuous trading
Because of time zone differences, “same time, different prices” happens
USD/KRW rate fluctuations widen the gap: when the KRW depreciates, even if Korean stocks don’t fall, converting them to USD still goes down
3️⃣ Most importantly: “daily 3x” ≠ “long-term 3x”
It only aims to match ~3x for single-day returns, not an “absolute price ×3”
Daily automatic rebalancing: during sideways/choppy markets, you get a “decay effect”
Example:
Index: +10% → -9.1% → back to breakeven (cumulative 0%)
KORU: +30% → -27.3% → cumulative -5.5%—the longer you hold, the more you lose
4️⃣ Fees + premium/discount + tracking error
Management fee ≈ 0.95%–1.5% per year, plus funding rate, slippage, and rebalancing costs
Market price ≠ net asset value: order flow affects the price, and when liquidity is low, **±1%–5% premium/discount** is quite common
Leverage range: actual leverage fluctuates roughly between 1.5x and 3x; in extreme markets, leverage can be reduced, further increasing deviation