A high drama is playing out in a small corner of the financial markets right now, in perhaps the last place any ordinary investor — or Hollywood producer — might think to look.

While many of the details are knee-high in financial markets jargon, from short covering to triple leveraged exchange-traded notes, some observers think there’s a fairly straightforward story to be told about the dangers for investors in unregulated segments of the market – especially when coupled with risky trades.