I don’t see this screenshot as evidence as to the amount that FTX was entitled to use for other customers’ leverage, including Alameda. It seems to be a snapshot of current margin lending?
If the point of this screenshot is to show there was hidden margin lending to Alameda, that wasn’t being disclosed, fair point. But it’s possible that Alameda had a special vehicle that wasn’t picked up on the dashboard because of the size of its allowed margin and because FTX (arrogantly) figured that Alameda was involved in relatively risk-free trading. That seems to be what it was started to do—engage in supposedly “risk-free” arbitrage.
The notion of risk-free arbitrage is probably incorrect. But Sam would not be the first person to believe in it.
I don’t see this screenshot as evidence as to the amount that FTX was entitled to use for other customers’ leverage, including Alameda. It seems to be a snapshot of current margin lending?
If the point of this screenshot is to show there was hidden margin lending to Alameda, that wasn’t being disclosed, fair point. But it’s possible that Alameda had a special vehicle that wasn’t picked up on the dashboard because of the size of its allowed margin and because FTX (arrogantly) figured that Alameda was involved in relatively risk-free trading. That seems to be what it was started to do—engage in supposedly “risk-free” arbitrage.
The notion of risk-free arbitrage is probably incorrect. But Sam would not be the first person to believe in it.