Block Trade Mess Revives Fierce Debate on ‘Leverage Gone Wrong’
- Margin debt, levered funds spark alarm after Archegos unwind
- Market participants debate over how much worry is warranted
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What might be the largest margin call in history is ringing fresh alarm bells on Wall Street among those worried about hidden leverage and its potential to fry the financial system.
The forced selling of more than $20 billion of apparently swap-linked shares at Bill Hwang’s Archegos Capital Management has set off a hunt for other areas of excess -- from margin debt to options and bloated balance sheets -- after stocks at the center of the fiasco plunged and investment banks warned of losses.