[FreeReign]

The very first sentence of the author's article reads: Derivative contracts total about three-quarters of a quadrillion dollars in "notional" amounts, according to the Bank for International Settlements. But I thought the whole point of the article was that nobody knows the character or extent of these Derivatives and that was a great part of the problem:. The author continues in the next sentence: These contracts are tallied in notional values because no one really can say how much they are worth.

Thanks. I searched the article using "700 trillion" instead of "three-quarters of a quadrillion".

It's interesting to note that as late as June 2006, OTC derivatives as listed by BIS had a value of a relatively smaller $370 trillion.

link

[nathanbedford]

Ernest_at_the_Beach has kindly provided a link to the bank data.

Have a look at his post number 21. My eyes are starting to get computer screen bleary but I draw the overall impression that it ain't good.