Regulators in mainland China are getting serious about cooling down the overheated stock market. The latest move? Stricter controls on margin financing—basically making it harder for retail traders to lever up. This crackdown comes right after the market saw a massive $1.2 trillion jump in just the past month, which clearly set off alarm bells among policymakers. When gains come that fast, authorities start worrying about bubbles and retail FOMO driving unsustainable moves. Margin financing rules are a classic tool for this kind of intervention. By tightening them, regulators are essentially saying: slow down, take profits, and don't get too crazy with borrowed money. It's the kind of play we see across most major markets when things get frothy—authorities would rather pump the brakes early than deal with a crash later.