The 11 Big Trades of 2025: Bubbles, Cockroaches, and a 367% Jump

It was another year of high-conviction bets — and fast reversals.

From bond desks in Tokyo and credit committees in New York to currency traders in Istanbul, markets delivered both windfalls and whiplash. Gold hit records. Staid mortgage behemoths gyrated like meme stocks. A textbook carry trade blew up in a flash.

Investors bet big on shifting politics, bloated balance sheets and fragile narratives, fueling outsized stock rallies, crowded yield trades, and crypto strategies built on leverage, hope, and not much else. Donald Trump’s White House return quickly sank — and then revived — financial markets across the world, lit a fire under European ...