By 1998 LTCM had invested in "a collection of every type of bond and derivative instrument known to markets, as well as common stocks". (2) Much of the firm's huge portfolio was leveraged (a common practice where a portfolio is built up using borrowed funds) with money from a number of financial institutions including "practically all major Wall Street firms". (3) Many of these loans were unhedged bets and so, when one strand after another in LTCM's portfolio began to snap, Wall Street found itself on the brink of a monster sinkhole.