There’s a lot riding on chipmaker SK Hynix’s success for South Korea: can it come good?

If SK Hynix cannot continue to deliver outsized profits and retail investors’ bets backfire, we might see real wealth destruction among South Korea’s middle class. In recent days, more positions have been forced into liquidation, a sign that perhaps the less savvy are caught in a high-stakes game that they do not fully understand. US investors, of course, are even later to the party. They should tread carefully.