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< BACK TO ALL REPORTS

Leap in leverage

Jason Goepfert
2021-02-19

The latest margin debt figures are out and showed another month with investors ramping up their leverage - borrowing money and using the value of their stocks as collateral - despite a month when stocks dropped.

The difference between credits (cash) in their accounts and the amount they owe is now -$333 billion, a record low.

Since markets bottomed last March, margin debt has jumped more than 60%, putting it in rarefied air.

Of course, stocks have skyrocketed, too. Growth in debt is still more than 20% above and beyond that of the S&P 500, enough to be considered extreme, but well off the speculative peaks in 2000 and 2007.

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