When Finance Breaks
Video
LTCM: How Two Nobel Laureates Nearly Broke the System
A fund run by Nobel laureates hit 250:1 leverage and lost $4.6bn in five weeks. The risk model that missed it still runs — inside your broker's margin system.
Series
When Finance Breaks
The collapses that quietly built the system every investor uses today. Most finance content treats them as cautionary tales. This series treats them as pattern recognition.
5 episodes 5 written companions
Episodes
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12:32 Episode 1
LTCM Explained: The Nobel Prize Hedge Fund Collapse
Two Nobel laureates, a flawless model, and a fund that lost 90% in four months. What LTCM teaches about the tail risk no model can price.
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12:03 Episode 2
Lehman Brothers vs FTX: How $58 Billion Vanished From Audited Balance Sheets
Same off-balance-sheet trick, same audit pass, fourteen years apart. Why 'audited' does not mean safe.
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10:27 Episode 3
Synthetic ETFs: Why You Might Be Exposed to Counterparty Risk
A synthetic ETF does not own what it tracks. It owns a promise from a bank. Usually that is fine — here is when it is not.
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10:40 Episode 4
UK Gilt Crisis 2022: How £70 Billion Almost Broke Britain
A pension strategy designed to reduce risk nearly destroyed the UK bond market in 72 hours. How LDI turned safety into a margin call.
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10:11 Episode 5
Credit Suisse AT1 Bonds Explained: How $17 Billion Was Wiped to Zero
Swiss authorities wrote CHF 16bn of AT1 bonds to zero while shareholders were paid. The mechanical trigger never fired — a regulator's judgement did.
Read the written version →
Written companions
When Finance Breaks
Video
Lehman vs FTX: How Audited Balance Sheets Hid $58 Billion
One was a 158-year-old Wall Street bank. One was a crypto exchange in the Bahamas. Both had clean audit opinions on the books the day they collapsed.
When Finance Breaks
Video
Synthetic ETFs and the Swap That Hid $160 Billion
One banned trader built $160bn of invisible exposure using a derivative. The same instrument sits inside synthetic ETFs — including, possibly, one you own.
When Finance Breaks
Video
The Safest Asset in Britain Nearly Broke Britain
UK pension funds faced £70bn of margin calls in days — not from crypto, but from government bonds. The risk that did it is inside your bond ETF right now.
When Finance Breaks
Video
Credit Suisse AT1 Bonds: How CHF 16 Billion Went to Zero
Swiss authorities wrote CHF 16bn of AT1 bonds to zero while shareholders were paid. Here is the clause that allowed it — and how to check if your ETF holds them.