The problem was that eventually he (through his brokers hedges) owned enough of these equities to cause massive slippage if he cashed out. He knew this, so he c

The problem was that eventually he (through his brokers hedges) owned enough of these equities to cause massive slippage if he cashed out. He knew this, so he couldnt really cash out, even though he was up massively on paper. And then his stocks had a bad couple weeks and he wasnt up massively and the banks tried to unwind and discovered the massive slippage problem he already knew about. I think in basically every case like this it just comes down to getting in too deep and the only way out looking like doubling down. When the options are "5% chance of success if I double down or 0% if I dont" you double down because why would you care if the banks lose more.