Individual investors suffer losses after Flávio Bolsonaro’s defeat at the polls
Leveraged bets on an electoral result that was not confirmed left heavy losses, with cases of debt with XP.
BY THE X-TRADER NEWS NEWSROOM · REPORTING FROM ESTADÃO · 2 MIN
The defeat of Flávio Bolsonaro (PL) on Sunday, the 25th, caused a fall in the markets and also affected individual investors. According to Estadão, part of them had bet in a leveraged way on assets that would profit if Lula (PT) was defeated, and the bill arrived with a bang.
Reports of losses began to circulate on social networks, which shows that the problem is not limited to isolated cases. Leveraged transactions use borrowed money or derivative instruments to increase exposure, and therefore amplify both gains and losses when the market moves against the position.
Hégler Henrique, partner and manager at Amplus Capital, cites an investor who lost R$1.2 million, according to Estadão. Another case reported by the newspaper is that of an unidentified investor, an employee of a state-owned company, who lost around R$400,000 in assets and owed R$700,000 to XP.
XP was contacted, but did not take a position on the cases. In other words, the investigation does not yet provide the broker's version of the operations and reported debts.
The episode shows that the electoral dispute also affects the wallets of those who operate in the stock market, dollar and interest. When the result of an election becomes an investment thesis, the risk is no longer just a market risk and starts to affect the personal balance of those who bet.
What changes for the investor
The case reinforces that leverage requires attention to the size of the position and the ability to cover losses, since, in one of the reports, the investor owed the broker an amount above the equity he lost. The report does not provide data on the aggregate effect on the market, so it is not possible to say whether the movement is repeated in other assets. For those who invest, the central point is to evaluate exposure to political events before establishing positions, without assuming an outcome.
Automatically translated from Portuguese.
