Also, these bets were not placed in liquid markets that trade all day long at narrow spreads between bid and asked like sovereign bonds or multinational stocks.

FORBES: JP Morgan's $370 Billion Hedge Fund Made Foolish Bets With Bank's Cash

Last June, the scientific community was stunned by the announcement that there were signs of liquid water on modern Mars after all.

ECONOMIST: Martian chronicles

After all, even questionable IPOs were moneymakers in Hong Kong's heady pre-1997 days and an active liquid market is harder to manipulate than an illiquid one.

FORBES: World Markets

All needed their funds to be as liquid as cash, the complaint says, and all found out just how unliquid their funds were after they tried to sell the auction rate securities they had been told were as good as cash and couldn't.

FORBES: Another Legal Headache For UBS