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Famous trades & blow-ups
38 events, A–Z. Figures are as reported by the linked source.
- AIG bailout · 2008
Losses on credit default swaps led to a large US government rescue of the insurer. source
derivatives2008 crisis - Allied Irish Banks / John Rusnak · 2002
Hidden currency trading losses of about US$691 million at the US unit Allfirst. source
rogue tradingFX - Amaranth Advisors · 2006
Hedge fund lost about US$6 billion on natural gas futures positions within weeks. source
commoditiesconcentration - Archegos Capital Management · 2021
Bill Hwang's family office used total return swaps to build large concentrated positions; their collapse led to over US$10 billion of losses at banks. source
leverageswaps - Bear Stearns rescue · 2008
The investment bank was sold to JPMorgan with Federal Reserve support after a liquidity run. source
2008 crisis - Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme · 2008
Madoff's investment advisory business was revealed as a Ponzi scheme with an estimated US$64.8 billion in paper losses. source
fraudponzi - Black Monday · 1987
The Dow Jones fell about 22.6% on 19 October 1987, its largest one-day percentage drop. source
crash - Celsius Network · 2022
Crypto lender froze withdrawals in June 2022 and filed for bankruptcy. source
cryptolending - Credit Suisse takeover by UBS · 2023
After years of scandals and outflows, Credit Suisse was taken over by UBS in a deal brokered by Swiss authorities. source
bankingSwitzerland - Daiwa Bank bond trading losses · 1995
Trader Toshihide Iguchi hid about US$1.1 billion of losses on US bonds over 11 years. source
rogue trading - Enron collapse · 2001
Energy trading company collapsed after accounting fraud was exposed. source
fraudaccounting - Flash Crash · 2010
On 6 May 2010 US indices dropped and recovered within minutes. source
market structureHFT - FTX collapse · 2022
Crypto exchange FTX went bankrupt; founder Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud in 2023. source
cryptofraud - GameStop short squeeze · 2021
Retail buying, coordinated partly on Reddit, sent GameStop shares sharply higher and caused large losses for some short sellers such as Melvin Capital. source
short squeeze - Hunt brothers silver squeeze ('Silver Thursday') · 1980
Attempt to corner silver collapsed when exchange rules changed and prices fell sharply on 27 March 1980. source
commoditiescorner - Jérôme Kerviel / Société Générale · 2008
Unauthorised futures positions led to a loss of about €4.9 billion. source
rogue trading - Knight Capital · 2012
A software deployment error caused about US$440 million in losses in 45 minutes. source
technology risk - Lehman Brothers bankruptcy · 2008
Largest US bankruptcy filing, on 15 September 2008. source
2008 crisis - London Whale (JPMorgan) · 2012
A credit-derivative position in JPMorgan's Chief Investment Office lost about US$6 billion. source
derivativesrisk control - Long-Term Capital Management · 1998
Highly leveraged hedge fund, whose partners included Nobel laureates, lost heavily after the Russian default. The New York Fed coordinated a bank-financed recapitalisation. source
leverageLTCM - Melvin Capital · 2021–2022
Hedge fund lost heavily on short positions during the GameStop squeeze and closed in 2022. source
short squeeze - Metallgesellschaft oil hedging losses · 1993
A US subsidiary's oil futures hedging programme led to losses of over US$1 billion. source
hedgingcommodities - MF Global · 2011
Broker collapsed after large leveraged bets on European sovereign debt; customer funds were found missing. source
leveragebroker risk - Mt. Gox · 2014
Then the largest bitcoin exchange; collapsed after reporting the loss of about 850,000 bitcoins. source
cryptoexchange - Nick Leeson and Barings Bank · 1995
Unauthorised trades, mainly Nikkei futures, hidden in an error account, caused losses of about £827 million and the collapse of Barings. source
rogue trading - Northern Rock bank run · 2007
First run on a British bank in over a century; the bank was nationalised in 2008. source
bank runUK - Orange County bankruptcy · 1994
Treasurer Robert Citron's leveraged interest-rate bets lost about US$1.6 billion when rates rose; the county filed for bankruptcy. source
leveragerates - Silicon Valley Bank failure · 2023
Losses on bond holdings and a rapid deposit run led to the bank's closure. source
bank runrates - Soros / Quantum Fund vs the pound ('Black Wednesday') · 1992
The UK left the European Exchange Rate Mechanism on 16 September 1992 after heavy selling of sterling. Soros's fund was widely reported to have made about US$1 billion from its short pound position. source
currencymacro - South Sea Bubble · 1720
Shares of the South Sea Company rose and collapsed in Britain. source
bubblehistory - Sumitomo copper affair · 1996
Trader Yasuo Hamanaka's unauthorised copper trades caused about US$2.6 billion in losses. source
rogue tradingcommodities - Swiss franc unpegging · 2015
The Swiss National Bank removed the EUR/CHF 1.20 floor on 15 January 2015, causing extreme moves and broker failures. source
currencygap risk - Terra–Luna collapse · 2022
The algorithmic stablecoin TerraUSD lost its peg and LUNA collapsed. source
cryptostablecoin - Three Arrows Capital · 2022
Leveraged crypto hedge fund collapsed after the Terra–Luna crash. source
cryptoleverage - Tulip mania · 1636–1637
Prices of tulip bulbs in the Dutch Republic rose and collapsed; the scale is debated by historians. source
bubblehistory - UBS / Kweku Adoboli · 2011
Unauthorised trading caused a loss of about US$2.3 billion at UBS in London. source
rogue trading - Wirecard · 2020
German payments company admitted that €1.9 billion of cash probably did not exist and filed for insolvency. source
fraudGermany - WorldCom · 2002
Telecom company inflated assets by billions; one of the largest US bankruptcies at the time. source
accounting fraud
Last checked: 2026-11-04 · Plain links, no affiliate IDs. Inclusion is not an endorsement. Educational, not financial advice.
Education only, not financial advice. No signals. Backtests are hypothetical: real trading can be worse. Past results don't predict future results.