FINRA Margin Debt
FINRA Margin Debt is the total amount investors have borrowed against the securities in their margin accounts at member broker-dealers, reported monthly under FINRA Rule 4521. It is the cleanest read on how much leverage is riding on the equity market.
FINRA margin debt (still widely searched as “NYSE margin debt”) is the total investors have borrowed against securities in margin accounts at member broker-dealers, reported monthly under FINRA Rule 4521.
Leverage expanding faster than market — the dollar level sets records routinely; the three relative reads below are where the signal lives, each as a percentile of its own 1997+ history.
Bars are percentiles of the full history — 100 = the most leveraged on record. Each report covers one calendar month and FINRA publishes it about three weeks after that month ends; the next lands around the third week of November 2026.
Latest reading
As of September 2026, FINRA margin debt is $1.48T — 1.5% below the June 2026 record of $1.50T. The prior reading was $1.45T. The June 2026 peak of $1.50T is the record before and after inflation: $1.52T in September 2026 dollars, which puts the latest reading ($1.48T, September 2026) 2.6% below it. The dollar level rises with the market, so the signal is in the rate of change. Margin debt growing far faster than stocks is high "excess leverage" (margin-debt YoY minus SPY YoY); readings above +20 pp appeared in 1999–2000, 2007–08, 2021 and 2025–26, while sharp contractions accompany forced deleveraging in selloffs. Extremes are cycle context. They do not time entries or exits. FINRA publishes each month's figure about three weeks after the month ends. Series history runs from 1997 to present.
Sources, methodology & freshnessFINRA margin statistics (margin-statistics.xlsx), monthly · Monthly, with every releaseData as of 2026-09-01 · Open ↓Close ↑
Full history
Dollar level
Debt as % of GDP
Margin debt as a share of nominal GDP (quarterly Z.1/BEA, joined as-of each month). Scales borrowing by the economy that ultimately backs it: the 1999–2000 peak was 3.0% (March 2000), the 2021 peak 3.8% (August 2021), and the latest reading is 4.6% (September 2026).
Debt as % of market cap
Margin debt as a share of total public equity market value (quarterly Z.1, joined as-of each month). The counterweight to the GDP view, scaled by the market itself: the latest 1.6% (September 2026) compares with 2.2% (July 2007) at the 2007 high. The two denominators disagree: against GDP leverage is above its 2007 high, against market value below it.
Debt as % of M2
Margin debt as a share of the M2 money supply — how much of the economy’s spendable money is borrowed against portfolios. Normalizes the dollar level for monetary growth across decades.
Monthly change
The month-over-month change in margin debt in dollars — the flow behind the level. Deleveraging shows up here first. The largest one-month drops in the record: July 2026 (−$85B), January 2022 (−$80B), June 2022 (−$69B) and October 2008 (−$68B).
YoY growth
The 12-month growth rate of margin debt. The dollar level trends with the market, so the rate of change is where the signal lives — growth of 50% or more appeared only in 1999–2000, 2007, 2021 and 2026.
Debt / SPY
Margin debt divided by the month-end SPY price. A rising ratio means leverage is growing faster than the market itself — the late-cycle pattern of 2000, 2007 and 2021.
Excess leverage
Margin-debt YoY minus SPY YoY, in percentage points. Readings of +20 or more appeared in 1999–2000, 2007–08, 2021 and 2025–26; deep negatives mark forced deleveraging.
Net free credit
Cash sitting in accounts (free credit balances) minus margin debt, in billions. Below zero, investors in aggregate owe more than the cash they hold at brokers — a thin cushion is the fuel for forced selling when margin calls arrive.
Real margin debt (September 2026 dollars)
Margin debt (FINRA debit balances) restated in September 2026 dollars, so every past reading buys the same basket as today. Nominal records arrive every bull market because the dollar shrinks; this view asks whether leverage is a record in purchasing power.
Deflated by CPI-U (BLS), matched by month; the latest months appear once CPI is published.
Methodology & data
Margin Debt is sourced from FINRA directly (FINRA margin statistics (margin-statistics.xlsx), monthly). We pull the complete history, chart it on a monthly basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.
Readings are dated by the period they cover. Latest observation 2026-09-01; site refreshed 2026-10-30. Maintained and reviewed by Yuriy Matso; see our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
The Manual — margin debt
Margin debt stands at $1.48T in the September 2026 report, up 31% in a year. Growth that fast has appeared in 61 of 345 months on record; outside the current run, those months fall in 1998–2000, 2004, 2007, 2010–11, 2013 and 2020–21. The full owner's guide covers what the number actually measures, the record net free credit read, the three famous episodes with charts, and the specific ways this gauge will mislead you.
Read The Margin Debt Manual →Frequently asked questions
What is the FINRA Margin Debt?
FINRA Margin Debt is the total amount investors have borrowed against the securities in their margin accounts at member broker-dealers, reported monthly under FINRA Rule 4521. It is the cleanest read on how much leverage is riding on the equity market.
How do you read Margin Debt?
The dollar level rises with the market, so the signal is in the rate of change. Margin debt growing far faster than stocks is high "excess leverage" (margin-debt YoY minus SPY YoY); readings above +20 pp appeared in 1999–2000, 2007–08, 2021 and 2025–26, while sharp contractions accompany forced deleveraging in selloffs. Extremes are cycle context. They do not time entries or exits. FINRA publishes each month's figure about three weeks after the month ends.
Where does the Margin Debt data come from?
FINRA margin statistics (margin-statistics.xlsx), monthly. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/margin-debt.csv.
How often is Margin Debt updated?
Margin Debt is a monthly series from FINRA, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts. FINRA publishes each month’s figures about three weeks after the month ends.
FINRA margin debt (still widely searched as “NYSE margin debt”) is the total investors have borrowed against securities in margin accounts at member broker-dealers, reported monthly under FINRA Rule 4521.
Leverage expanding faster than market — the dollar level sets records routinely; the three relative reads below are where the signal lives, each as a percentile of its own 1997+ history.
Bars are percentiles of the full history — 100 = the most leveraged on record. Each report covers one calendar month and FINRA publishes it about three weeks after that month ends; the next lands around the third week of November 2026.