Visualization of the world's money and markets

COMPARING THE WORLD'S MONEY AND MARKETS

each square of this size represents €100 billion

BITCOIN

The value of all bitcoins is roughly equal to $5 billion today.
The market capitalization of this cryptocurrency reached a peak of $14 billion in 2013.

SILVER

The value of all above-ground silver stocks (estimated by some at 1 billion oz) is $14 billion
using a $14/oz spot price.

WORLD'S RICHEST PEOPLE

According to the latest Forbes rankings of net worth,
Bill Gates is the world's richest person again with a fortune of $79.2 billion.

WORLD'S BIGGEST COMPANIES

Apple is the world's largest public company by market capitalization, worth $616 billion.

FED'S FEDERAL RESERVE BALANCE SHEET

Between 2008 and 2014, the Fed's balance shoot jumped to $4.5 trillion from $1 trillion
due to controversial quantitative easing (QE) programs.

$3.5t Added During QE

COINS AND BANKNOTES

The total value of all of the world's coins and banknotes is roughly $5 trillion.

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

Institutional investors, with one third of them public real estate companies, own about $7.6 trillion of commercial real estate world-wide.
This is a still a fraction of the total ofall real estate.

36% Americas (36%)
31% Europe (31%)
30% Asia Pacific (30%)
4% Middle East + Africa (4%)

GOLD

The world's total above-ground gold reserves are estimated at 183,000 tonnes by the World Gold Council.
Using a $1,200 spot price, the world's gold is worth $7.8 trillion .

17% Heldby lMF and Central Banks

NARROW MONEY

According to the CIA Factbook, the total value of the world's easily accessible money is $28.6 trillion.
This includes the world's coins, banknotes, and checking deposits.

ALL STOCK MARKETS

The market capitalization of all of the world's stock markets is equal to $70 trillion.

52% United States
8% European Union
7% Japan
2% China
31% Rest of the World

BROAD MONEY

According to the CIA Factbook, the total value of the world's money is $80.9 trillion.
This includes coins, banknotes, money market accounts, as well as saving, checking, and time deposits.

ALL GLOBAL DEBT

The total amount of global debt is $199 trillion.
329% accumulated since the 2008 financial Crisis.
Included in the above amount is $59.7 trillion of sovereign national debt .

329% United States
336% Europe
320% Japan
36% China
319% Rest of the world

DERIVATIVES

The low-end estimate of the size and scope of global derivative markets is $630 trillion on a notional contract basis.

WHAT'S A DERIVATIVE?

A derivative is a contract between two or more parties that derives its value from the performance of an underlying asset, index, or entity.

EXAMPLES OF DERIVATIVES:

Futures contracts
Forward contracts
Options
Warrants
Swaps

Banks typically use high amounts of leverage to attain these positions. Some derivatives, such as commodity futures, are traded on regulated exchanges such as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

However, the majority of derivatives are traded outside of exchanges between private companies, and are called "over-the-counter" trades.

Collateralized debt obligations and credit default swaps are two derivative types that are now infamous for their roles in the 2008 Financial Crisis.

/ Here we've reached the low-end estimate of $630 trillions.
The high-end estimate for the value ofall derivative contracts is as high as $1.2 quadrillion.

The truth is that no one really knows the exact size of the market.

VIEWS ON DERIVATIVES:

Many finance professionals consider derivatives to be "zero-sum" trades - in other words, there is a winner and loser on each side of the bet.

However, other experts warn that the massive size of the derivatives market could contain significant risk and consequences to global markets.

The positives are derivatives can be used to help allocate and take price risk out of everything from corn to cattle to stock. There are good derivatives that are self-regulating such as interest rate swaps and currency forwards. I've been working for exchanges for 41 years. I do not think regulation is incompatible with an efficient market. I think derivatives promote efficiencies.
(Dr. Richard Sandor)

The derivatives genie is now well out of the bottle, and these instruments will almost certainly multiply in variety and number until some event makes their toxicity clear. Central banks and governments have so far found no effective way to control, or even monitor, the risks posed by these contracts. In my view, derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.
(Warren Buff)