Margin debt used to buy stocks has plunged by $329 billion as investors de-risk their exposure to the market

• Speculation in the stock market has been flushed out after FINRA margin debt cratered by $329 billion.
• The massive de-leveraging by investors sets the market up for a positioning shift if a soft landing materializes in the economy, according to Fundstrat.
• "Margin debt a percentage [of] market cap now 1.59%, matching 'dot-com' 2002 25-year low," Fundstrat said.

One measure of stock market speculation among investors has plunged to levels not seen since the low of the dot-com bubble burst in 2002, according to a Friday note from Fundstrat's Tom Lee.

FINRA margin debt, which measures the amount of loans taken on by investors to buy stocks, has plunged by $329 billion since the October 2021 peak.