Buying On Margin: 1920s

As the market climbed, everyone from barbers to bankers felt like a genius [3, 4]. If your $10,000 portfolio went up 10%, you doubled your initial $1,000 investment instantly [1]. It was the financial equivalent of a perpetual motion machine [3].

Buying on margin in the 1920s was the ultimate "get rich quick" hack that defined the Roaring Twenties—until it didn't [1, 2]. Imagine walking into a brokerage with $1,000 and walking out with $10,000 worth of stock [1]. In the 20s, you only needed to put down ; the broker lent you the rest, using the stock itself as collateral [1, 3]. buying on margin 1920s

Today, margin requirements are much stricter (usually 50%), but the 1920s remain the ultimate cautionary tale of what happens when the world trades on borrowed time and borrowed dimes [1]. As the market climbed, everyone from barbers to