As the stock market plunges, losses for retail investors who bet on an index rebound are snowballing.

Over the past month, more than 2 trillion won in retail funds flowed into leverage exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track double the gains of the Kospi and Kosdaq indices, but their returns plummeted by nearly 50%.

Investors who engaged in bargain hunting in anticipation of a rebound have only exacerbated their losses.

According to Koscom's ETF Check, the ETF most heavily net-purchased by retail investors over the past month was "KODEX Leverage," which attracted 1.2201 trillion won.

This product tracks twice the daily return of the Kospi 200 index.

As losses expanded amid the market downturn, its return over this period stood at -45.36%.

The second most net-purchased product was also a leverage fund.

Retail investors net-purchased 941.1 billion won worth of "KODEX Kosdaq 150 Leverage."

However, the return over the same period plunged by -48.79%, effectively cutting their investment in half.

Losses were even steeper for investors who bet on a rebound in the semiconductor sector.

"KODEX Semiconductor Leverage," which ranked ninth in retail net purchases, pulled in 257.2 billion won over the month, but its returns crashed to -64%.

Not a single product among the top 10 ETFs in retail net purchases posted a positive return.

Investors in leveraged ETFs in the U.S. stock market also failed to avoid massive losses.

"TQQQ," which tracks three times the daily return of the Nasdaq 100 index, plunged 18.92% during the regular U.S. trading session on the 5th.

TQQQ is a popular product that ranks ninth among foreign stocks held by domestic investors.

Securities firms expect stock market volatility to persist for the time being.

This comes as the possibility of tighter regulations on artificial intelligence data centers following the U.S. midterm elections has sparked panic selling centered on semiconductor stocks.

However, some analysts suggest it is still premature to interpret this as an interruption of the AI investment cycle.

Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kium Securities, analyzed that "given that the specific scope of regulations, actual investment delays, and a drop in AI demand have not yet been confirmed, the plunge in AI stocks in the U.S. market has strong characteristics of panic selling."

Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Seo Byung-wook | Graphics by Yang Hye-min | Produced by SBS Digital News