Defying the bearish pressure from Strategy's coin sell-off, multiple crypto whales have opened highly leveraged long positions in BTC and ETH, with total positions exceeding $148 million.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) saw its intraday decline exceed 8% at one point today, triggering the market’s circuit breaker mechanism, falling below the 5,600-point threshold to hit a recent low. This marks the ninth time South Korea’s stock market has triggered the circuit breaker this year, and the second consecutive trading day it has done so. Earlier market views had argued that South Korea’s circuit breaker mechanism was no longer effective, failing to effectively halt sell-offs. The core drivers behind this slump are the revaluation of AI semiconductor stocks coupled with structural flaws in South Korea’s market. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix together account for over 40% of KOSPI’s total market capitalization, meaning fluctuations in these two stocks alone can sway the broader market’s direction.

According to Bitget market data, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Tech Index rose more than 2.3% intraday, while the Hang Seng Index gained 1.40%. MiniMax (00100.HK) jumped over 8%, Li Auto (02015.HK) surged more than 10%, Xiaomi Group (01810.HK) rose over 9%, Leapmotor (09863.HK) climbed nearly 8%, and Tencent Holdings (00700.HK) gained more than 4%.

South Korea’s stock market has fallen sharply for the second consecutive day. Chipmaker SK Hynix’s second-quarter earnings missed estimates, extending the sector’s slump, while retail investors have been cutting positions en masse. After closing down 10% on Tuesday, South Korea’s KOSPI index plunged another 8% on Wednesday. So far in July, the KOSPI has dropped over 30%, on track to record its worst monthly decline in history. The index rallied sharply earlier this year, with gains almost entirely driven by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. After closing down 14% on Tuesday, SK Hynix’s shares plummeted 12% on Wednesday, wiping out roughly one-fifth of its market value in two days. Investors are now awaiting earnings reports from Samsung Electronics and other major U.S. tech companies due on Thursday. (Jin10)

South Korean exchanges have activated the circuit breaker mechanism for the KOSPI index, suspending trading for 20 minutes. The KOSDAQ index had already triggered the circuit breaker earlier. The KOSPI index is currently down 8.17%.

According to Bitget market data, Hong Kong-listed storage concept stocks extended their losses from yesterday. CSOP 2x Long SK Hynix (07709.HK) fell over 25% again, CSOP 2x Long Samsung Electronics (07747.HK) dropped more than 16.6%, and Montage Technology (06809.HK) and GigaDevice Semiconductor (03986.HK) both declined over 10.5% once more.

Bitcoin mining and AI infrastructure company Ionic Digital, formed from the restructuring of bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius, has completed a direct listing on the Nasdaq. The company’s stock opened at $50 and closed at $62.90, rising approximately 26% from the opening price to a corresponding market cap of around $2.8 billion. Founded in 2024, Ionic Digital completed its restructuring via the acquisition of Celsius Mining’s assets before expanding into AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. IPO research firm Renaissance Capital noted that, based on Nasdaq’s reference price of $53, the company’s implied valuation of roughly $2.4 billion makes it the largest direct listing case in the U.S. since 2021. After hours, Ionic Digital’s stock retreated 6.5% to $58.80.