Fluke? Credit crisis was a heist

robin_banks

I've not long finished the Great Crash 1929 by JK Galbraith, it seems this crash was as a result of greed and incompetence, and ignoring warning signs.

Nothing changes.

bubblesmoney

purch wrote: »

No

I did it for 17 years so I know what happens and why.



No

If you understand the way these markets work, such numbers don't shock and surprise you.



There is no Genius involved in these markets.

I've seen greed, luck, incompetence and lots and lots of skill and experience, but the one's who think they are a 'Genius' are always found out !!!!

is the 98% of forex trading that is not involved in productive trade just speculation?
if indeed it is just speculation helping the rich become richer and wreck fledgling economies all for the sake of allowing such speculation, do you approve of allowing such type of speculation? probably isnt fair asking this question since you worked in the same sector for 17y but am asking anyway. just curious to learn things from a different perspective. its not every day that i meet someone from your sector of work. :beer:

purch

is the 98% of forex trading that is not involved in productive trade just speculation?

Yes

The key word is 'Trading' however, not Position Taking.

The average Spot FX trader will be trading 2 or 3 (maybe more times a minute) in amounts of $5 mill/$10 mill, but he/she will not carry an open position of any size very often, and in most cases will start and end a trading day with a 'square' position overall. That kind of trading will amount to most of the FX trading each day.

There will be Traders and others taking large open speculative positions as well, but these overall will amount to a much smaller proportion of the trading that occurs.

This has been going on for decades, and isn't usually a major problem, as the FX markets have been reasonably efficient over time.

The Derivative Markets, especially the OTC markets :eek: are a different matter all together..........

...it's the Derivative contracts derived from other Derivative instruments that are the real modern 'alchemy' and the root of the meltdown