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Margin has always been something risky, and I am not surprised.

The good thing is that if people do it right and don't bet everything one way and at one time, they can still recover, and they'll do it faster with leverage.

As for AI and Trump, I can't make any conclusions. Let's see how things go.

Yeah, I'm not sure either if they are both bluffing or this is for real this time. I tend to believe the Chinese don't bluff on the rare earths thing, since this is an escalation of something they already have going for a few months. I don't know if it'll work as they think/hope it will, though. But one new development that I heard since I wrote the post, is that they won't meet in person when Trump goes to SE Asia in a few weeks.