The S&P500 fell 5% this week. I had a flood of margin calls, and the even more dreaded 'critical liquidity alerts' in my in-box.
The reason was telegraphed months ago. Banks are lending an incredible amount of money to dodgy hedge funds and private equity funds.
I have no idea why this happened this week. I am going to China tomorrow, where it will be very difficult to meet future margin calls.
My exposure is limited, but if I allow my broker to close my positions now I will undoubtedly have had my position closed at the bottom of the market. Whenever those damn clerks chose to place those sell orders on my behalf it will be the signal for global stock markets to rally in an uncannily co-ordinated unison.
You may think I am being ironic, or somehow not entirely serious, but this is not the case. My position (long or short) is an infallible predictor of sea-changes in bourses around the world. Sadly, however carefully I choose my investments, these major lurches in markets always serve to precipitate margin calls.
Seriously, it is a sickening feeling to see every one of one's carefully chosen-to-be-diversified positions tank in perfect synchrony.
