Margin Debt Risk: The Ratios That Mislead Investors
Margin debt just set another record. In May 2026, investors owed their brokers a combined $1.42 trillion, the highest in history and a 53.7% jump from the prior year.1 Every time this number prints a new high, the same charts circulate: margin debt against GDP, against M2, against the total value of the market. They look authoritative. […]