Where we heard itCNBC video report on record margin debt, Oct. 9, 2026. Reporter: Sean Conlon, with Houston investor Hy Luu and Hardika Singh, economic strategist at Fundstrat Global Advisors.
Americans are borrowing against their portfolios faster than the market is going up, and margin debt is money investors borrow from brokers using securities as collateral to buy more securities. CNBC reporter Sean Conlon said margin debt hit a record $1.5 trillion in June 2026, up nearly 49% from a year earlier. Over the same period, the S&P returned about 21%, according to CNBC. Borrowing grew far faster than the market. FINRA releases monthly totals on its margin statistics page.
One of the people behind that number is Hy Luu. He is a 29-year-old investor in Houston who appeared in the segment. As of August 2026, he had borrowed roughly $147,000 on margin against $712,000 worth of TeslaTSLA shares. Those figures are from August, and we do not know what he holds now.
Hy Luu described the start: “I went really crazy, you know, interest rate was 2.5%, stock was going up, and so I was like, there’s no way I could lose. Buy more Tesla shares. I need more Tesla shares.”
A Strategist Warns About the Borrowing Boom
Two of the segment’s starkest warnings came from Hardika Singh, economic strategist at Fundstrat Global Advisors. The first: “We have never seen Americans hooked on margin like this. This is crazy.”
The second contains the segment’s main warning. Singh said that since 1960, whenever margin debt rose more than 45% year over year, the stock market declined five times out of six.
We could not independently verify this count, which CNBC credited to a Fundstrat analysis of FINRA, NYSE and Bloomberg data. Six cases across more than six decades is a small sample, but the pattern is striking and deserves attention.
What Tesla Stock Has Actually Done
Luu borrowed against Tesla because the stock was going up. Tesla closed at $382.70 on Friday, October 9, 2026, up 2.1% on the day and up 3.3% from a week earlier.
For leveraged positions, longer periods matter more. Tesla shares are down 14.9% year to date and down 12.1% over the past twelve months. The borrowing case has not held up over the year.
The borrowing boom in four numbers
How a Margin Call Can Force a Sale
When you borrow against shares, those shares become collateral. If their value falls far enough, the broker calls for more money or sells the position. The investor does not choose when that happens. That is what sets leverage apart from average investing: it can take away the option to wait for a recovery.
The segment notes that FINRA requires a minimum of 25% equity in a margin account, and brokerages often require more. To lower the risk of a margin call, Luu refinanced his home.
Brokerage Margin Books Have Grown Rapidly
CNBC reported that Robinhood MarketsHOOD margin book grew from $5 billion in the second quarter of 2024 to $21.6 billion in the second quarter of 2026. Both figures match the company’s quarterly earnings releases, including its second-quarter 2026 report.
Borrowing to invest can take just a few taps in a trading app.
In His Own Words
Hy Luu summed up his approach this way: “It is gambling. What I’m doing is risky. I don’t recommend anyone do it.”
Luu describes his strategy more accurately than most. The record $1.5 trillion in margin debt is a figure to keep an eye on as FINRA releases its next monthly totals.
Hy Luu calls his margin-funded Tesla bet gambling and tells others not to copy it, while margin debt across the market hit a record $1.5 trillion in June 2026. The risk is speed: a sharp drop can bring a margin call before a long-term bet has time to work, and Tesla is down 14.9% this year.