Review of 2021: Default, revolt, reform
A secretive family office triggers one of the biggest trading losses in history. An army of retail investors single-mindedly hunts down short sellers in the stock market. The world’s most important financial benchmark marches inexorably towards death. While the last of these seismic events was stage-managed – to the extent possible – the others were not. The rise of Reddit’s retail army was anticipated by some, as home-workers ploughed their savings into a Bolshie new form of stock trading, but the explosion it set off in January came as a shock to most. And the failure of Archegos Capital Management was a five-alarm fire. Against the backdrop of a mutating virus and rising global temperatures, this was a precarious, disorderly year. It was also a story of adaptation and survival. Des...