Exactly. Most of these stories are written by the same reporters who had the Katrina death toll at 50,000.
wilbur, could you be so kind as to post a link to the leaked SEC report refered to above? i reviewed the memoryhole documents but was unable to locate. thank you, surfer
whew! ... I guess that's why they call you... The Student. now all I gotta do is learn financial Greek quantum leaping science.
so you're saying that the 600t is just financial masturbation? that the hard 'underlying value' is not really that much? It's all paper-compounded in order to get Ooos and Ahhs from doofs like me?
my point is --- WHO REALLY KNOWS THE REAL NUMBER!!! probably no one! what is the real value of a contract against a contract against another contract --- the only way we would ever find out is if everything collapsed. then after all the legal fights and financial wipe outs we would have some new number.
The 600 trillion figure was the amount traded on the CME in 2004. It depends on how the contract is structured and how delivery is performed, either the underlying assett or cash. You buy an option to sell a futures contract on pork bellies. That option, if exercised, has to be matched with the contract and delivery. Most options, and probably most derivatives expire worthless. I have a friend who trades derivatives for a bank. I'll ask him for further details.