Financial history from primary sources
Long-form writing on the crises, bubbles, and institutions that made modern finance — built from peer-reviewed research, central-bank archives, and contemporaneous reporting. Edited by Sam.
Featured
How Moody's 1909 Letter Grades Became Financial Law
John Moody printed letter grades against 1,300 railroad bonds in April 1909 and sold the book to anyone who would…
The Birth of the Mortgage-Backed Security, 1968–1986
In 1974 a savings and loan could not sell the mortgages in its filing cabinet.
Taiwan's Stock Bubble and the 80% Crash of 1990
A capital gains tax announced in September 1988 froze Taipei's market at the price limit for nineteen sessions, and was…
The 2022 Gilt Crisis: When Pension Hedges Broke the Bond Market
On 28 September 2022 the Bank of England began buying long-dated gilts to stop a loop it had not seen…
Latest→
Bre-X and the Busang Gold Fraud: A C$6 Billion Mirage, 1993–1997
Bre-X Minerals rose from a penny stock to about C$6 billion on assay sheets from a Borneo jungle camp.
Historical records
Charles Dow and the Birth of the Stock Index, 1884–1896
On 3 July 1884 a handwritten bulletin from a Wall Street basement printed the sum of eleven stock prices divided by eleven.
Historical records
How the LME Cancelled $12 Billion of Nickel Trades in 2022
Nickel printed at $101,365 a tonne in a thin Asian session on 8 March 2022.
Historical records
The Secondary Banking Crisis: The Bank of England's 1973 Lifeboat
Competition and Credit Control freed British bank lending in 1971, and a tier of unsupervised fringe banks borrowed short to lend against property.
Historical records
Alfred Winslow Jones: The Sociologist Who Invented the Hedge Fund
In January 1949 Alfred Winslow Jones opened an investment partnership with $100,000, $40,000 of it his own, and combined borrowed money with short sales to separate stock picking from market…
Historical records
The 1986 Oil Price Collapse: How Saudi Netback Deals Broke OPEC
In August 1985 Saudi Arabia was pumping 2.2 million barrels a day, less than it had produced in 1962.
Historical records
The Treasury-Fed Accord: How the Fed Won Its Independence, 1951
From 1942 the Federal Reserve held Treasury bill yields at three-eighths of one per cent and long bond yields at 2.5 per cent, buying whatever the market would not.
Historical records
Jérôme Kerviel and the €4.9 Billion Société Générale Loss
A junior trader on a desk meant to carry no directional risk was long €50 billion of European index futures, more than his employer was worth.
Historical records
Crises & Crashes→
The 1967 Sterling Devaluation: Cutting the Pound to $2.40
For three years Harold Wilson's government defended $2.80 with emergency rate rises, import surcharges and borrowed reserves.
The 2022 Gilt Crisis: When Pension Hedges Broke the Bond Market
On 28 September 2022 the Bank of England began buying long-dated gilts to stop a loop it had not seen…
Sweden's Banking Crisis: The 500% Rate and the 1992 Bank Guarantee
On 16 September 1992 the Riksbank set its overnight lending rate at 500 per cent to hold the krona.
The Panic of 1857: The First Crisis to Travel by Telegraph
On 24 August 1857 an Ohio trust company's New York office admitted it could not pay, and the telegraph carried…
Overend Gurney and Black Friday 1866: How Bagehot's Rule Was Made
On 10 May 1866 the greatest discount house in the world stopped paying, with £11 million of liabilities and a…
Bubbles & Manias→
Bre-X and the Busang Gold Fraud: A C$6 Billion Mirage, 1993–1997
Bre-X Minerals rose from a penny stock to about C$6 billion on assay sheets from a Borneo jungle camp.
Historical records
Taiwan's Stock Bubble and the 80% Crash of 1990
A capital gains tax announced in September 1988 froze Taipei's market at the price limit for nineteen sessions, and was then abandoned. The index closed at 12,495.
Historical records
Souk al-Manakh: Kuwait's $94 Billion Postdated-Cheque Bubble
Barred from Kuwait's official exchange, Gulf company shares traded in a converted garage on postdated cheques. When one bounced in August 1982, registration revealed KD 26.
Historical records
The Nifty Fifty: One-Decision Stocks and the 1973–74 Crash
On 11 January 1973 the S&P 500 closed at 120.24 and did not see that level again for seven years.
Historical records
The Poseidon Bubble: How a Nickel Shell Went from 80 Cents to $280
In September 1969 a near-dormant Adelaide shell announced nickel sulphides at Mount Windarra without publishing a single assay.
Historical records
The 2017 Bitcoin Bubble: From $1,000 to $19,783 and Back
Bitcoin ran from $998 to $19,783 in eleven months on Japan's 2017 legalisation, a $5.6 billion wave of initial coin offerings, and retail mania.
Historical records
Policy & Regulation→
The Treasury-Fed Accord: How the Fed Won Its Independence, 1951
From 1942 the Federal Reserve held Treasury bill yields at three-eighths of one per cent and long bond yields at 2.5 per cent, buying whatever the market would not.
Historical records
The Bank of Japan's Zero Rates: Inventing QE, 1999–2006
In February 1999 the Bank of Japan pushed its policy rate to zero, and in March 2001 it began steering the quantity of reserves instead of their price.
Historical records
The Real Plan: How Brazil Ended Hyperinflation Without a Freeze
On 1 July 1994 Brazilian banks exchanged cruzeiros reais for reais at 2,750 to one.
Historical records
The Return to Gold: Churchill's 1925 Parity and Britain's Lost Decade
On 28 April 1925 Churchill announced that sterling would return to gold at its pre-war rate of $4.86.
Historical records
Executive Order 6102: The Gold Recall That Devalued the Dollar
On 5 April 1933 Roosevelt ordered Americans to surrender their gold by 1 May at $20.67 an ounce.
Historical records
The London Gold Pool: Defending $35 Gold, 1961–1968
From November 1961 eight central banks sold gold in London to hold the price at $35 an ounce.
Historical records
Market Innovation→
Charles Dow and the Birth of the Stock Index, 1884–1896
On 3 July 1884 a handwritten bulletin from a Wall Street basement printed the sum of eleven stock prices divided by eleven.
Historical records
The Birth of the Mortgage-Backed Security, 1968–1986
In 1974 a savings and loan could not sell the mortgages in its filing cabinet.
Historical records
The CBOE and Black-Scholes: Options Become a Listed Market, 1973
On 26 April 1973 a former smokers' lounge in the Chicago Board of Trade building opened as an options exchange and traded 911 contracts on sixteen stocks.
Historical records
The International Monetary Market: Chicago's 1972 Currency Futures
On 16 May 1972 a roped-off corner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange floor opened in seven currencies and traded 333 contracts.
Historical records
The First Eurobond: How a 1963 Italian Loan Escaped New York
On 1 July 1963 bankers signed a $15 million loan for Italy's motorway company in a room at Schiphol airport, because signing it in London would have cost 4 per…
Historical records
How J.P. Morgan Invented the Credit Default Swap, 1994
A hedge built in 1994 to free capital against an Exxon credit line grew into a market of $62 trillion notional by 2007. The Lehman auction settled for $5.
Historical records
Key Figures→
Alfred Winslow Jones: The Sociologist Who Invented the Hedge Fund
In January 1949 Alfred Winslow Jones opened an investment partnership with $100,000, $40,000 of it his own, and combined borrowed money with short sales to separate stock picking from market…
Historical records
Jérôme Kerviel and the €4.9 Billion Société Générale Loss
A junior trader on a desk meant to carry no directional risk was long €50 billion of European index futures, more than his employer was worth.
Historical records
Harshad Mehta and the 1992 Indian Securities Scam
In April 1992 the State Bank of India could not find government bonds worth hundreds of crores, and the trail led to a broker who had financed a 274 per…
Historical records
Jay Gould and the Black Friday Gold Corner of 1869
In September 1869 Jay Gould bought access to the US Treasury for a $10,000 cheque and drove gold from 132 to 162 in the New York Gold Room.
Historical records
Richard Whitney: The NYSE President Who Went to Sing Sing
In October 1929 Richard Whitney bid 205 for 10,000 US Steel and was credited with stopping a panic.
Historical records
Ivar Kreuger: The Match King Who Made Auditing Mandatory
Ivar Kreuger lent roughly $387 million to fifteen governments in exchange for national match monopolies, financed it by selling securities to American savers, and forged 500 million lire of Italian…
Historical records
Market Structure→
How the LME Cancelled $12 Billion of Nickel Trades in 2022
Nickel printed at $101,365 a tonne in a thin Asian session on 8 March 2022.
Historical records
How Moody's 1909 Letter Grades Became Financial Law
John Moody printed letter grades against 1,300 railroad bonds in April 1909 and sold the book to anyone who would buy it.
Historical records
The Birth of the Euro: Eleven Currencies Fixed on One Night, 1999
On 31 December 1998 eleven governments agreed a list of numbers that could never be altered: 1.95583 marks to the euro, 6.55957 francs, 1,936.27 lire.
Historical records
Metallgesellschaft: The Oil Hedge That Cost $1.3 Billion
MG Refining and Marketing sold about 160 million barrels of fuel at prices fixed for ten years and covered them with front-month futures.
Historical records
The Salad Oil Swindle: How Seawater Broke Two Wall Street Brokers
Tino De Angelis pledged 1.8 billion pounds of vegetable oil held in tanks at Bayonne that were mostly seawater.
Historical records
The Nasdaq: How a 1971 Screen Network Remade the OTC Market
Nasdaq's terminals published over-the-counter quotes from February 1971, but not the convention by which dealers set them.
Historical records
Macro Events→
The 1986 Oil Price Collapse: How Saudi Netback Deals Broke OPEC
In August 1985 Saudi Arabia was pumping 2.2 million barrels a day, less than it had produced in 1962.
Historical records
The 1994 Bond Massacre: Seven Fed Hikes and $1.5 Trillion Lost
At twenty past two on 4 February 1994 the Federal Reserve published a quarter-point rise, the first time it had announced a policy change on the day it made it.
Historical records
The Depression of 1920–21: The Deflation America Let Run
On 1 June 1920 the New York Fed charged 7 per cent, the highest rate in its history.
Historical records
The 1976 Sterling Crisis: Britain's $3.9 Billion IMF Bailout
On 28 September 1976 Denis Healey walked out of Heathrow rather than board a flight while the pound was being sold. Britain then borrowed $3.
Historical records
Smoot-Hawley, 1930: The Tariff That Closed World Markets
A promise of farm relief became a revision of more than 20,000 duties, signed on 17 June 1930 over the objection of 1,028 economists.
Historical records
Turkey's Lira Crisis: Erdogan's Unorthodox Policy and 2021 Collapse
Between 2017 and 2024 the Turkish lira lost roughly 89 percent of its value against the US dollar, the product of an explicit presidential theory — high interest rates cause…
Historical records
Financial history from primary sources. Edited by Sam.