Derivatives and Fragility: Why $100bn Days Are the New Normal

  • Author:
    Geoff Robinson
  • Level: 
    Intermediate to advanced
  • Study time:
    5 minutes
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Course overview
2025 has seen more $100 billion daily stock moves than any year on record. This essay explores how derivatives, leveraged ETFs, and retail-driven options trading are fueling unprecedented volatility in individual stocks while masking systemic fragility beneath calm index levels. Through analysis of gamma exposure, ETF rebalancing, and behavioral biases, it explains how mechanical liquidity and hedging flows now dominate short-term price action.

The piece equips analysts with practical tools for modeling volatility risk, understanding flow-driven markets, and anticipating how correlation spikes could transform isolated fragility into systemic instability.

What's included?

  • 1  video
  • When $100bn swings become routine, volatility isn’t a symptom — it’s the system.
  • Insights from a #1 ranked data-driven analyst

Who should watch this playlist? 

This essay is for investment analysts, portfolio managers, and risk professionals seeking to understand the structural drivers of today’s extreme market volatility. It offers a deep dive into derivatives-driven feedback loops, ETF rebalancing risks, and the behavioral dynamics shaping modern market fragility. Whether you analyze equities, manage risk, or teach finance, this piece equips you to interpret volatility through a microstructure lens — the skill every modern analyst needs.

Why TheInvestmentAnalyst.com?

We are the only training house that is able to bring top-ranked analyst experience into your classroom. We buck the trend. Most training businesses recruit junior ex-bankers to become their trainer. Our instructors cut their teeth teaching and then gain senior experience with investment banks.

We believe, you could not be in better hands.

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Geoff Robinson
FCA FMVA MFM

Thought leader, instructor, writer, financial influencer, Former UBS Managing Director and 8x #1 ranked analysts EMEA Institutional Investor Survey
ABOUT Geoff
Geoff has had a varied career. He was a Managing Director within UBS Equity Research, leading their Global Fundamental Analytics franchise. During this time, he was #1, ranked 9x in the EMEA Institutional Investor Survey. Before UBS, he was a material equity investor and LBO co-investor in two market exited training consultancies. Geoff has a passion for learning and is well-known for his ability to break down complex subject matter and distil it to an audience in a digestible and engaging manner. He brings this passion to TheInvestmentAnalyst.com. 
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