Margin Debt: Can't Live With It, Can't Live Without It

Fund Junkie: Weigh Your Tech Exposure and Consider a Diet

David Gaffen: Tech Stocks Not Cheap Yet

Justin Lahart: Margin Debt at Worrisome Levels

Jim Cramer: Get Liquid

Brett Fromson: Get Ready For Fourth-Quarter Pre-Announcements

Technical View: A Lesson in Tops for a Market Ready to Bottom

Metrics View: A Dozen Stocks Still Defy Gravity

Taskmaster Chat: Take a Defensive Posture

Fund Junkie: Climate Is Changing for Net Bellwether Stocks

These days, when people talk about margin debt -- loans that investors have taken out from their brokers using shares they own as collateral -- mostly they just talk about how damn high it is.

It's an important point to make. Even though margin has come down from the all-time record levels of March, with debit balances on margin at $233.4 billion at the end of October, the situation is still precarious. Should stocks decline seriously, brokerages will worry about protecting the money they've lent out. That could force another round of margin calls, which require borrowers to immediately put up additional cash. If the borrower cannot, the stock put up as collateral gets sold. It can, as it has several times already this year, make for an ugly market. ...