According to @KobeissiLetter, US margin debt jumped $57.2 billion in October to a record $1.2 trillion, marking the sixth consecutive monthly increase (source: The Kobeissi Letter citing FINRA October 2025 margin statistics). Year-to-date, margin balances are up $285 billion (+32%), and over the last six months they have surged +39%, which the author characterizes as the biggest recent jump (source: The Kobeissi Letter; FINRA margin statistics). Elevated broker-dealer margin balances indicate higher equity market leverage, increasing the probability and speed of forced deleveraging when prices fall (source: BIS Quarterly Review on procyclical margins and leverage). For crypto traders, heightened equity leverage can amplify cross-asset volatility and spillovers, with risk-off episodes transmitting through margin calls and liquidity withdrawals that can impact BTC and ETH alongside equities (source: BIS Quarterly Review on margin procyclicality and cross-asset contagion). Trading takeaway: monitor US equity volatility and funding conditions; a sharp reversal in stocks would raise liquidation risk across leveraged books and could pressure BTC and ETH beta to equities (source: BIS; The Kobeissi Letter data).