Lehman and Bear Stearns went out of business in 2008. The mountain of derivatives that they were one of the parties to netted out at zero, but in the process,

Lehman and Bear Stearns went out of business in 2008. The mountain of derivatives that they were one of the parties to netted out at zero, but in the process, a lot of people got burnt, including the ultimate mortgagees. The share market and its derivatives net to zero. It's a mechanism for getting capital flowing between investors and producers.