margin

The Chief Financial Officer of SanDisk stated that it is expected to obtain a total contract amount of $93.9 billion from 8 customers during the contract period, with a Non-GAAP gross margin of approximately 80% for the fiscal years 2028 to 2030, and a Non-GAAP operating profit margin expected to reach about 75%. It is anticipated that the adjusted free cash flow profit margin will remain at 50% for the fiscal years 2028 to 2030. The company stated that in the future, after fulfilling strategic investment and business development needs, it will return 100% of excess cash to shareholders.SanDisk expects that as the storage industry cycle improves and the demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence infrastructure grows, the company's profitability will further enhance, and shareholder value will be increased through high-margin businesses and capital return strategies. This capital allocation plan shows that SanDisk will prioritize business expansion and strategic investments in the future while returning remaining cash to investors through stock buybacks, dividends, and other means.

According to the Nikkei News, individual investors in the Japanese stock market are accelerating their use of leverage to bet on AI trends. As of July, the amount of credit trading by individual investors in the Japanese stock market reached 123 trillion yen (approximately 1.09 trillion yuan), doubling since the beginning of the year and reaching the highest level since related statistics began in 2016.Data shows that in June, the scale of credit trading by Japanese individual investors hit a historical high, and in July it continued to maintain a high level. At the same time, the proportion of credit trading in the overall trading amount of individual investors rose to 83%, also setting a new record.AI concept stocks have become the main driving force behind the surge in credit trading, among which the credit buy balance of AI storage concept stock Kioxia reached 13.23 million shares as of August 7, making it one of the popular targets.Benefiting from the recent rise in the Japanese stock market, the overall performance of leveraged investors has been decent. The floating yield of credit trading investors briefly turned positive in June, although it fell back to a loss of 8.4% by the end of July, it is still better than the average loss level of the past 10 years (-10.2%).

According to Daum, after South Korea's financial regulatory authorities raised the base margin for domestic and foreign single-stock leveraged products from 10 million won in securities to 30 million won in pure cash starting July 31, South Korean retail investors began to rapidly adjust their portfolios.According to data from the Korea Securities Depository, Tesla's 2x leveraged product TSLL recorded a net purchase of 14.58 million USD on August 3, but the purchase amount on the 4th plummeted from the previous day's 15.6 million USD to 1.56 million USD, while the selling amount rose to 8.68 million USD, resulting in a net sell of 7.11 million USD for the day. During the same period, Tesla's spot net purchases reached 42.3 million USD, more than five times the net purchase amount of TSLL.Micron Technology and SanDisk also showed similar divergence—Micron's 2x leveraged product flipped from a net purchase of 10.81 million USD on the 3rd to a net sell of 15.98 million USD on the 4th, while SanDisk's 2x leveraged product changed from a net purchase of 17.74 million USD to a net sell of 33.74 million USD. Meanwhile, the spot net inflows for the two companies were 148 million USD and 145 million USD, respectively, indicating a significant trend of funds shifting from leveraged tools to the underlying stocks.The tightened regulations require that the base margin must be paid in cash, with alternative securities such as stocks, ETFs, and bonds no longer counted, and existing investors must also meet the new standards when making additional purchases; selling is unrestricted, but the funds from sales must be settled after T+2 days before they can be counted as cash margin.The new rules were originally planned to be implemented in phases in August, but due to concerns that limiting it to Korean products would lead to a capital influx into overseas leveraged products like Tesla and Nvidia, creating a balloon effect, South Korean regulators moved the implementation date up to July 31 and simultaneously covered both domestic and foreign products.South Korean investors have reacted strongly, believing that extending measures aimed at local market volatility to overseas products constitutes excessive intervention, and that only South Korean investors must meet the 30 million won cash threshold, putting them at a disadvantage in global competition.

After South Korea raised the margin requirements for single-stock leveraged ETF investors, the trading activity of related products has significantly decreased, with trading volume dropping to about one-tenth of the previous peak level.According to data from the Korea Exchange, the total trading volume of 16 single-stock leveraged and inverse ETFs related to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in the KOSPI market was 12.388 trillion won within two trading days after the new measures were implemented, a decrease of 58.6% compared to 29.907 trillion won on the day the measures were implemented (July 31).Previously, South Korean regulators raised the minimum cash margin requirement for single-stock leveraged ETF investors from 10 million won to 30 million won. Compared to the trading volume of 124.485 trillion won on the last trading day before the measures were implemented (July 30), the current trading scale of related products has dropped to about one-tenth.The enthusiasm of retail investors has cooled significantly. Data shows that the trading volume of retail investors in single-stock leveraged and inverse products has fallen to 250.7 billion won, less than a quarter of the 929.9 billion won on July 31.Analysts indicate that after raising the margin threshold, the effect of restricting speculative capital inflow has begun to show, and the trading pattern of retail investors continuously buying leveraged products during declines in the underlying stocks is changing.

According to Jinshi, since the end of June, margin loans for stock trading in South Korea have fallen by more than 10%. The assets under management of leveraged ETFs linked to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plummeted from over $11 billion on June 25 to $4.1 billion, mainly due to the decline in the prices of related stocks. In addition, the funds flowing into such funds over the past two weeks have also turned negative.Ivan Feinseth, Chief Investment Officer of Tigress Financial Partners, stated that large-scale deleveraging is usually a healthy and necessary market adjustment.

According to Jinshi reports, Apple Inc. (AAPL.O) had a gross margin of 50.1% in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, higher than the market expectation of 47.92%.

Bitget Unified Account (UTA) launches a zero-interest lending program for USDGO holdings, with the event running from July 29 at 15:00 to August 29 at 15:00 (UTC+8). During the event, users holding USDGO can borrow USDT under the unified account and receive a zero-interest borrowing limit equivalent to 30% of the value of their USDGO holdings, with a maximum zero-interest limit of 10 million USDT per user. Related rights will automatically take effect during the event, and users do not need to manually claim or register. For more details, please refer to the official Bitget platform.

According to Tencent News "Frontline," a 26-year-old male employee of Hong Kong Central Wealth Management Services Limited misappropriated 50 million Hong Kong dollars as margin without authorization, using it to finance the purchase of a double long position in the Southern Eastern Ying Hynix ETF (07709.HK), resulting in a paper loss of up to 150 million Hong Kong dollars. The trader was arrested by the police on July 20 on suspicion of "theft," with the incident occurring from January 9 to July 20.Financial analysts in Hong Kong stated that the reason the 50 million principal turned into a 150 million loss was due to the combination of margin financing and the double leverage of the long ETF. This ETF surged to a historical high of 193.65 Hong Kong dollars at the end of June, driven by the storage chip concept, but then the semiconductor sector sharply corrected, falling to 52.58 Hong Kong dollars by July 20, a decline of over 72%. The police revealed that the relevant positions had not yet been forcibly liquidated, and the final loss would still fluctuate with the stock price. The incident was discovered during a recent audit of the company, which reported it to the police. Central Wealth Management is not a licensed company by the Securities and Futures Commission, and Central Wealth Securities stated that the involved personnel are not their employees and are unrelated to the incident, but after the event, some clients exhibited risk-averse withdrawals.

According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi's monitoring, a certain address opened a $2.155 million short position on Changxin Storage TWAP. If fully executed, it will become the second largest position in Hyperliquid CXMT. The TWAP size is 300,000 CXMT, with an opening average price of $7.1825, and currently 1.14% has been executed, with an account margin of $15 million.

Bitget has launched the industry's first Unified Trading Account (UTA) across assets, currently incorporating over 370 assets including 100 U.S. stock tokens (rToken) into a unified margin pool. Under this mechanism, the U.S. stock tokens (rToken) held by users not only allow for dividend distribution but can also serve as margin and collateral for lending, further enhancing capital efficiency.The first batch of U.S. stock tokens included in the margin system covers 100 mainstream assets such as Apple (rAAPL), Nvidia (rNVDA), and Tesla (rTSLA), with discount rates set by asset tiers, reaching up to 95%. With product iterations, Bitget will continue to expand the list of assets that can be used as margin and support leveraged trading, further bridging the liquidity gap between traditional financial assets and cryptocurrency trading scenarios.

Mizuho downgraded Circle's rating from Neutral to Underperform and lowered the target price from $85 to $50, citing increasing competitive pressure from OpenUSD.The firm stated that OpenUSD's direct pass-through model could force Circle to share more reserve income with distribution partners, thereby compressing profit margins. Mizuho lowered Circle's adjusted EBITDA forecast for 2027 to $699 million, approximately 25% below Wall Street consensus expectations, and warned that the upcoming Coinbase revenue sharing renewal could increase pressure.

According to Yicai, global chip stocks faced a Black Monday. On that day, during the Asian trading session, rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East suppressed risk appetite, with SK Hynix plunging over 15% on the Korean Exchange, marking the largest single-day drop in 18 years; the South Korean benchmark index KOSPI fell more than 9% in a single day, retreating 25% from its historical high on June 22.Data from the Financial Supervisory Service of Korea shows that the total amount of forced liquidations across the entire South Korean market reached 344.2 billion won in a single day, the largest scale of credit liquidation this year. Retail investors accounted for 92% of leveraged positions, referred to as "ant investors," who made full bets on memory chips and have very weak capacity to withstand volatility. As of Monday, over 1.2 million leveraged retail accounts in the entire South Korean market had reached the margin call line. Among them, approximately 320,000 to 360,000 accounts have been fully liquidated by brokerages, resulting in the loss of principal, with some accounts even owing debts to brokerages.Institutions believe that the short-term Gamma effect of leveraged shorts in South Korea cannot be eliminated, and the trillion-won level of leveraged selling pressure has not been fully cleared, with the risk of volatility still unresolved. However, this round of decline is not a reversal of the industry's fundamentals but rather a concentrated deleveraging event following macro shocks faced by crowded high-position leveraged trades.

After recently launching the financing trading feature, BIT today announced the official launch of the US stock margin trading (short selling) feature. Regarding this business upgrade, BIT brokerage head Elio Cui stated: "With the launch of margin trading, BIT brokerage has become one of the very few in the industry to support financing, margin trading, and options preparation on a trading platform under the real US stock framework. Our product planning has been aimed from the beginning at building a complete traditional brokerage investment experience. Within the same account, users can seamlessly connect long and short positions and risk hedging to respond to different market cycles with higher capital efficiency."After the launch of this feature, BIT margin account users who meet the initial margin requirements can short sell specified US stocks. The platform will dynamically update key risk control indicators such as margin rates, borrowing interest, and margin pool limits in real-time to ensure transparency and efficiency in trading.In conjunction with the new business launch, BIT brokerage is offering a limited-time "0 fee" promotional activity. The activity is subject to relevant terms and conditions; details can be found on the BIT US stock channel X platform.

According to Bloomberg, the prediction market platform Polymarket is seeking regulatory approval in the United States to conduct margin trading operations in compliance.The company submitted a futures commission merchant (FCM) operating application to the National Futures Association (NFA) through its subsidiary Coming Home GBA LLC on July 3. This move will allow users to participate in event betting with less capital and is expected to attract more professional traders to the market.

According to BBX data, yesterday marked a milestone for the global largest IPO completion index, with a historic turning point in the valuation logic of AI transformation in mining companies. The core dynamics are as follows:SpaceX, Inc. (NASDAQ: $SPCX) reported on July 7 that the company was officially included in the Nasdaq 100 index this week, becoming the first in history to have the largest single IPO ($75 billion) included in the Nasdaq 100. CoinDesk also issued a historic warning: "The last two largest new constituents added—Palantir ($PLTR) in December 2024 and Strategy ($MSTR) in early 2025—both experienced a phase decline after inclusion, rather than starting a new round of increases"; analysts pointed out that passive funds tracking the Nasdaq 100 complete "forced buying" at the time of inclusion, and if there are no new fundamental catalysts afterward, stock prices often pull back after technical buying subsides. Specific risks currently facing SpaceX include: a net loss of approximately $4.27 billion in Q1 2026 (mainly due to xAI integration expenses), a $2 billion bond issuance plan, and a 3.4% equity dilution from the $60 billion acquisition of Cursor/Anysphere; Morningstar maintains a fair value estimate of $62 per share, indicating about a 70% implied downside from the current market price. For the market holding SpaceX Bitcoin (18,712 coins, approximately $1.2 billion, held in Coinbase Prime), the inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 will trigger a larger scale of SPCX holdings by passive funds, further bridging the gap between traditional index investors and indirect exposure to Bitcoin assets.TeraWulf Inc. (NASDAQ: $WULF) according to the latest analysis, the company's high-performance computing (HPC) leasing revenue in Q1 2026 reached $21 million, accounting for about 62% of the total revenue of $34 million, surpassing Bitcoin mining revenue for the first time—this marks TeraWulf's first historic revenue structure reversal after transitioning to an AI/HPC infrastructure company, with a 117% increase from the $9.7 million HPC revenue in Q4 2025. The company has currently signed over 522 megawatts of AI/HPC leases with Core42 and Fluidstack, with an expected annual high-margin revenue of approximately $630 million; the energy structure consists of nuclear power + hydropower, with an average electricity cost of about $0.035 per kilowatt-hour, one of the lowest among similar mining companies. The company is also developing a new campus in Kentucky, adding approximately 480 megawatts of grid access capacity; analysts have significantly raised their target price ranges, with Keefe Bruyette & Woods raising from $23 to $37, Clear Street from $26 to $38, Jefferies initiating coverage with a Buy rating and a target price of $37, and BTIG raising at the same time. The company's stock price has increased by approximately 88% year-to-date in 2026, leading the gains in the mining sector.

Bitget's unified account has officially supported the full margin mode for stocks issued by the Reality protocol (rToken). This upgrade incorporates rToken into the unified account's shared fund pool, further connecting the unified fund management scenario between crypto assets and tokenized stocks.Through the unified account, users can manage spot, contract, and leveraged products in one account, eliminating the need for frequent fund transfers between different accounts. Different products can share margin, and profits and losses can be calculated collectively, thereby improving fund utilization efficiency and simplifying asset management.

According to the official announcement, Binance will update the collateral rates for assets such as XRP and HBAR in Portfolio Margin and Portfolio Margin Pro starting from July 3, 2026, at 06:00 (UTC), and will adjust the leverage and margin levels for multiple U-based perpetual contracts, involving contracts such as BICO USDT, FF USDT, DEXE USDT, VANRY USDT, TREE USDT, TLM USDT, AGLD USDT, MUBARAK USDT, RARE USDT, OGN USDT, and AVA USDT. The adjustments are expected to be completed by 06:30 (UTC).