US crude oil prices crashed below zero for the first time in history earlier this week, taking much of the world by surprise — including trading platform Interactive Brokers (IB), which has been forced to cover $88 million worth of its customers’ losses because they were holding too many barrels. A number of IB users had bought oil contracts on margin, the firm explained in a press release, a term for investing with borrowed money. [Read: Coronavirus leads to global decrease in oil demand, air quality is on the up] Investing on margin is risky, as the asset purchased becomes the collateral…
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