US stock futures fall, with intensified selling pressure on semiconductor stocks driving investors to shift to other sectors.

SK Group Chairman and Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Choi Tae-won responded to the sharp plunge in SK Hynix’s stock price, saying that while he cannot predict SK Hynix’s share price movement next month, investors should avoid frequent trading, as long-term holding may be more conducive to preserving assets. Choi believes that as the AI industry develops, demand for memory will continue to expand. He noted that AI is currently like a "4-year-old child," and as it matures into a full-fledged industry, it will inevitably require more memory, with related demand potentially growing exponentially. He also pointed out that SK Hynix’s stock had risen rapidly earlier, leading to a sharp pullback when market expectations shifted, adding that prices that surge too quickly sometimes need adjustments to align with reality. When discussing South Korea’s AI industry strategy, Choi stated that South Korea cannot compete with China on cost nor surpass the U.S. in model quality, so it should build infrastructure, develop applications suited to domestic needs, and explore niche markets, with a long-term shift from exporting memory chips to exporting computing power and "intelligence."

US corporate executives are offloading stocks at the second-fastest pace in over two decades. For some investors, this is a classic warning sign, as it signals that those with the deepest insight into a company’s operations are taking a cautious stance on the current market. Data from EPFR Global Market Intelligence shows that in the first half of 2026, US corporate insiders collectively sold $776 billion worth of stocks, a 20% increase from the same period last year. Over the past 20+ years, only 2021 saw larger sell-offs, when the market was fueled by massive pandemic-era stimulus funds. EPFR analysts including Winston Chua wrote in a report: “Insider trading activity indicates that at current valuation levels, corporate executives have no strong willingness to increase their stock holdings.” Additionally, insider buying activity remains sluggish. In the first half of 2026, insiders purchased just $69 billion worth of company stock, barely above the seven-year low of $67 billion set in the same period last year. (Jin10)

According to BIT (bit.com) market data, US semiconductor stocks were broadly lower in pre-market trading. Applied Materials fell 6.10%, Lam Research dropped 5.46%, TSMC declined 4.70%, KLA slipped 4.68%, Arm and Intel both fell 4.52%, AMD dropped 4.42%, Micron Technology fell 4.24%, and Nvidia was down 2.95%. The storage sector led losses: SanDisk fell 6.10%, Western Digital dropped 5.75%, Seagate Technology declined 5.63%, Micron Technology slipped 4.24%, and SK Hynix fell 3.49%. Optical communication concept stocks plunged collectively: Coherent fell 6.26%, Applied Optoelectronics dropped 6.00%, Credo declined 5.76%, Corning slipped 5.51%, Ciena fell 5.17%, and Astera Labs was down 5.08%.

The Big Short protagonist Michael Burry said today that with the appeal of South Korean and Japanese markets and the SOXX semiconductor sector waning, now is an ideal time to turn to the Hong Kong market to seek undervalued stocks. He believes some low-valued Hong Kong stocks are poised to perform well once capital flows shift away from South Korea, Japan and the semiconductor sector.

Official announcement: The OKX.AI Genesis Hackathon has seen rising developer enthusiasm since its launch. To give builders more time to refine and deploy Agent Service Providers (ASP), the submission deadline has been extended to July 28 at 7:59 (UTC+8). Participants can continue to submit their works via the OKX.AI official website and post project introductions on X. OKX.AI is an economic system built specifically for Agents. The Genesis Hackathon features a total prize pool of $100,000, aiming to encourage developers to build ASP that solve real-world needs and drive the implementation of the Agent economy.

According to an official announcement, Binance will launch the SPCXUSD1 perpetual contract at 17:00 (GMT+8) on July 20, 2026, with a maximum leverage of 25x.