South Korean semiconductor stocks slumped sharply, triggering five large forced liquidations of SKHX, with one whale’s long position being liquidated for approximately $2 million.

According to Hyperinsight monitoring, SK Hynix’s stock continued to decline after the company released its earnings report this morning. As of press time, SKHX, Hyperliquid’s Korean stock mapping contract for SK Hynix, traded at $969.93, down roughly 11.0% in 24 hours. Less than an hour after the sharp drop, the platform recorded five positions (all long orders) worth over $1 million each—new, reopened or reversed—totaling 8,419.75 SKHX contracts, with a position value of around $8.167 million and a weighted average entry price of $981.15. SKHX has now fallen below the overall cost line of these whales, leaving all five long positions in unrealized losses totaling approximately $95,000. The latest liquidation price stands at $930.62, about 4.1% below the current level. Funding rates show bottom-fishing capital is rushing in: SKHX’s hourly funding rate hit -0.0855% at 7 AM this morning, turned positive immediately after the earnings release, and the current real-time estimate has risen to 0.0373%. Calculated at the current rate, a $1 million long position needs to pay roughly $373 per hour to short sellers. The rapid flip of funding rates to positive signals that long trades after the sharp drop have become significantly crowded, yet prices have yet to stabilize.

SK Hynix stated during its Q2 2026 earnings call that the company is negotiating with major clients on the scale and pricing of HBM supply for 2027. The negotiations are progressing smoothly, backed by strong client demand, though SK Hynix declined to disclose specific client contracts or pricing details at this time. The firm added that HBM pricing is not solely determined by traditional DRAM prices; instead, it is negotiated individually with each client, taking into account multiple factors including wafers, advanced processes, TSV, packaging, capacity investments, technical complexity, opportunity costs, and product value. Leveraging its advantages in technology, cost, mass production capability, and client partnerships, SK Hynix aims to maintain steady profitability in its HBM business, drive the continuous development of the AI ecosystem via product iteration and long-term collaborations, and achieve long-term sustainable growth.

Citrini analyst Jukan published an analysis noting that in the memory chip sector, the saying "don't trust anyone except Korean analysts" is not unfounded. He pointed out that Korea Investment Securities (KIS) is an experienced research institution in this field. Not only KIS, but also senior analysts from firms including Citigroup and Meritz have recently cut their earnings forecasts for SK Hynix.

According to a report by the Financial Times, as AI-related stocks have continued to plunge over the past two weeks, Wall Street banks have required some hedge funds to post additional collateral (margin) to maintain their existing leverage levels. Sources said banks including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase have issued margin calls to funds with highly concentrated positions in specific sectors, with some of the requirements automatically triggered by risk control mechanisms activated by market volatility. Data shows the Nasdaq 100 index has fallen as much as 10% from its early-June all-time high, entering a technical correction zone; SanDisk and Intel have dropped 53% and 39% respectively from their year-to-date highs, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has declined roughly 25% cumulatively since the end of June. A prior Goldman Sachs report noted that total leverage among hedge funds in the first five months of this year saw its largest increase since records began in 2016, indicating many funds amplified their positions via borrowing amid the AI rally. Additionally, as of noon local time on Tuesday, long-short strategy hedge funds fell an average of 1.3%, and multi-strategy funds dropped 1.7%, marking one of their largest single-day declines since the 2020 COVID-era market volatility. Still, hedge funds as a whole have posted an average return of over 10% this year. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs disclosed that as of June 30, approximately 16% of its prime brokerage business’s risk exposure was directly linked to AI storage chip stocks.

According to Hyperinsight monitoring, SKHX on Hyperliquid extended its decline today following a 14.7% drop in South Korean stock SK Hynix’s close yesterday. As of press time, SKHX trades at $973.06, down 10.7% in 24 hours. However, no seven-figure liquidations have been recorded on the platform, with only sporadic forced liquidations above $100,000. The sharp decline did not trigger a new round of cascading liquidations. SKHX’s open interest rose 19.7% from 385,500 contracts yesterday to 461,600 contracts currently; at the corresponding mark price, the nominal value of open interest also climbed 9.3% from roughly $411 million to $449 million. Bottom-fishing capital continues to flow into the market. Data shows SKHX currently has 2,677 long accounts and 791 short accounts, with long accounts making up 77% of the total, while both long and short nominal positions stand at approximately $217 million. Calculated, the average position per short account is around $274,000, 3.4 times the average long position of about $81,000. This means there are more long accounts but their positions are generally smaller, while short accounts are fewer in number but have significantly larger individual positions. The funding rate is currently +0.036% per hour. The larger the capital size, the more bearish the position direction. Whales holding over $5 million in total hold $73.37 million in short positions and $39.07 million in long positions, with short positions accounting for roughly 65% and a net short position of around $3.43 million. Conversely, about 90% of positions in small accounts under $10,000 are long orders. Although around 74% of accounts are currently in unrealized losses, these losses are mainly spread across a large number of small long positions, while large positions are more concentrated on the short side.

SK Hynix released its Q2 2026 financial results, reporting operating profit surged 557% year-over-year to 60.5 trillion won, hitting a record high but falling short of the market consensus estimate of 64 trillion won. Revenue came in at 79 trillion won, also missing the projected 84 trillion won. Following the earnings release, the company’s U.S.-listed shares fell more than 9% in after-hours trading. As a core supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to NVIDIA, SK Hynix stated that AI demand remains robust, and projected that the global supply tightness for memory chips could persist beyond 2030. The company has signed multi-year supply agreements with around 10 clients and is advancing the mass production and sample delivery of its HBM4 and HBM4E products. This year’s capital expenditure is projected to reach 40 trillion won, as it continues expanding production capacity for AI-focused memory chips. However, market concerns are mounting over a slowdown in memory chip price gains and a potential resurgence of industry cyclical risks. Investors are closely watching whether the AI investment boom can sustain and if current high profit levels are nearing the peak of the semiconductor cycle. As of press time, SK Hynix’s shares on the South Korean stock market were down 9.61%.