[ex-Texan]

Is that really $62,000 Billion ___________ ?

[spyone]

yes...62 trillion.

[proxy_user]

$62 trillion is the NOTIONAL VALUE of the underlying capital.

How much stands to be gained or lost depends on how the contracts are written.

If I bet you $1 the stock market will go up tomorrow, the notional value of the contract is the total value of all stock traded. However, when it is time to settle up, someone makes or loses a dollar.

[jas3]

ex-Texan wrote: Is that really $62,000 Billion ___________ ?

The British tend to avoid the word "Trillion" for no good reason.

So the CDS market has $62 Trillion in notional value outstanding.

jas3

[GregoryFul]

The derivative market has been estimated at $600 trillion. Highly leveraged instruments. A big change in value of a fundamental unit supporting many 30-1 leveraged instruments, as we have here, will cause a tsunami to rip through the system. If you are not on high ground now - get there fast!