/biz/ - Business & Finance

>>19774157
The note found on his computer by his parents on June 12th asked a simple question. “How was a 20 year old with no income able to get assigned almost a million dollars worth of leverage?” The tragic message was written by Alexander E. Kearns, a 20-year-old student at University of Nebraska, home from college and living with his parents in Naperville, Illinois. Earlier that day, Kearns was struck by an oncoming train.

Like so many others, Kearns took up stock investing during the pandemic, signing up with Millennial-focused brokerage firm Robinhood.

As the Covid-19 stock market swung wildly, Kearns had begun experimenting trading options. His final note, filled with anger toward Robinhood, says that he had “no clue” what he was doing.

In fact a screenshot from Kearn’s mobile phone reveals that while his account had a negative $730,165 cash balance displayed in red, it may not have represented uncollateralized indebtedness at all, but rather his temporary balance until the stocks underlying his assigned options actually settled to his account.