Stats › Options, shorts and positioning › Margin debt
Margin debt
Margin debt is money people have borrowed from their broker using the shares in their account as collateral. FINRA collects the total every month and publishes it, which makes it one of the very few direct looks at how much leverage is sitting inside the equity market. It's also one of the statistics that gets quoted most and understood least.
In June 2026 it reached $1.53 trillion, a record, up 7.9% in that month alone and 51.5% on the year. Cash balances netted against that debt are at a record low of minus $1.06 trillion. Those numbers get quoted as a warning, and I put this page together mostly to explain why that reading is weaker than it sounds. Margin debt peaked in March 2000, July 2007 and October 2021, which is to say it peaked with the market rather than ahead of it. Borrowing capacity rises when portfolios rise, so a record in a record market is close to a restatement of the market.
There is one figure here that isn't a restatement, and it's the one I'd point you at. Since 1997, after inflation, margin debt has grown 604% while the S&P 500 has grown 354%. That comparison controls for the market. The page also walks through the margin call, which is the mechanism that turns leverage into speed when prices fall. Everything is dated and FINRA's statistics page is linked, so the raw series is there whenever you want to pull it.
FINRA margin debt reached $1.53 trillion in June 2026, a record, up 7.9% in a single month and 51.5% year on year. In real terms margin debt has grown 604% since 1997 while the S&P 500 grew 354%, so borrowing has expanded far faster than the market it is borrowed against. NYSE investor credit balances stand at a record -$1.06 trillion. Margin debt is widely treated as a warning signal, and the historical record shows it is a coincident indicator that peaks with markets rather than before them.
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