True stories from financial history

When billions vanish
and markets collapse.

Short, narrated stories about the biggest frauds, crashes, and market disasters — told in under 5 minutes. Watch the video or read the story.

Crashes · 2012

JPMorgan’s London Whale: The $6B Hedge Gone Wrong (2012) - QuickFinanceStories

His name was Bruno Iksil. Traders called him "The London Whale" because his positions were so massive, they moved entire markets. He worked for JPMorgan…

2012
Crashes · 2010

The 2010 Flash Crash: 36 Minutes of Market Mayhem - QuickFinanceStories

On May 6th, 2010, the stock market did something no one thought possible. It crashed nearly 1,000 points in minutes. Then recovered almost…

2010
Crashes · 1998

Long-Term Capital Management: When Genius Met Leverage (1998) - QuickFinanceStories

They called it the smartest hedge fund on Wall Street. Two Nobel Prize winners. A team of PhD…

1998
Hedge funds · 2006

Amaranth’s $6B Gas Bet Gone Wrong (2006) - QuickFinanceStories

Not longer than 3 minutes. Amaranth Natural Gas Blowup 2006 In 2006, a hedge fund named Amaranth Advisors lost about $6 billion in a week betting on natural…

2006
Fraud · 1995

How a Rogue Trader Sank Barings Bank in 1995 | Nick Leeson vs Risk Controls

Nick Leeson was supposed to be a back-office clerk at Barings Bank. Instead, he became the rogue trader who toppled Britain's oldest merchant bank in 1995.…

1995
Crashes · 2008

How Volkswagen Became the Most Valuable Company in the World - By Accident (2008 Short Squeeze)

In 2008, at the height of the financial crisis, something happened on the German stock market that no one expected — and most hedge funds would prefer to…

2008
Hedge funds · 2021

Archegos - How a Family Office Torched Wall Street (2021) - QuickFinanceStories

Nobody had heard of Bill Hwang. He ran a family office with no outside investors. No…

2021