The meaning of the word "speculation", its understanding, types and types, goals are changing. If at one time period it was punishable and shameful, then at another it is a way of earning money and one of the methods of economic development.
For the first time, the concepts of “speculation,“speculator”appeared in 1562, in Holland, and they were associated with the supply and sale of tulips. And the very first speculator was John Law - the inventor of a scheme to increase profits by fraudulent means, using rumors and advertising. There are many examples of fighting this phenomenon on the market in history, but the state and the authorities have always lost. And speculators both made a profit and skillfully bypassed the laws aimed at combating them. In our time, speculation has become a part of the economy, it is no longer condemned or judged for it, moreover, it is not a shame to be a part of this scheme, moreover, legal, and sometimes even prestigious.
What is speculation
The very concept of "speculation" implies some kind of activity for the sale or purchase of goods, the exchange of funds, securities or metals. Its main goal is enrichment. That is, in essence, it is a trade turnover, but it is not always regulated by the state and meets the rules of the law. It is interesting that at different times, in countries with different visions of legality, speculation is perceived differently. In Soviet society, such activities were prohibited, punishable and shameful. And even during the perestroika period, there were cases of criminal punishment for the fact of speculation - a purchase for 2,000 rubles and the subsequent sale of the same thing for 3,000 rubles.
Now speculation is one of the types of economic activity. Specialists in this field profit from several types of trade by analyzing the market, anticipating the rise or fall in prices for a certain type of product or valuable asset. In addition, it is speculators who in some cases regulate the situation on the market for oil, currencies, expensive metals, shares of enterprises. Most speculative transactions are regulated by modern legislation, which allows avoiding a sharp jump in prices and an economic crisis against the background of their instability.
Purposes and functions of speculation
In the modern economy, speculation serves as a kind of insurance deal. And speculators are intermediaries between the manufacturer (owner, seller) of a product and its buyer. As a result of the activities of speculators, the number of transactions increases, the market as such is developing, prices for almost all types of products, services and values are regulated, and price fluctuations are kept within the framework provided by law and planned by the state budget. That is, the main functions of speculation in the economy are:
- simplification and acceleration of the sale of goods,
- regulation of the economic situation in a particular state and the world,
- acting as insurance for a certain type of transaction.
Speculators are divided into two groups, in essence of their functionality and tasks - bears and bulls. Bears sell goods, services and values, hoping to redeem them after a certain period of time at a lower cost. Bulls perform the opposite functions - they buy something at a low price, store and sell when the value rises. Economists and stockists predict the growth and development of this type of market activity.
The main types of speculation
The legalization of speculative activity led to its active development. At the moment, there are several main types of speculation that generate income both for those who are engaged in them and for the economy of the state. The most optimal types of speculative activity:
- exchange,
- currency,
- speculation in the non-ferrous metals market.
It is the people engaged in these types of activity (speculation) that prevent the depreciation of money, reduce the risk of a decrease in incomes of all strata of society, including the wealthy and wealthy. Each of the types of speculation occupies a certain niche in the market, performs its functions and is engaged in solving its problems.
In fact, all of them are guarantors of preventing the withdrawal of material assets outside the state, provide long-term and large investment contributions to the development of projects of various types, and even affect political stability at the level of the country and the world. It is on the basis of their activities that the inflation rate is formed, and therefore the people's confidence in the ruling bodies, the government, the level of the national economy, production and trade enterprises rises. Modern speculators bring in investors, help sell products and services, and make them in demand.
What is stock speculation
Against the background of the development of the world economy, new social institutions have appeared, the purpose of which is to enrich, to obtain additional profits. A striking example of such functionality is exchanges. These legal entities (persons) form the wholesale market as a whole, regulate trade according to certain rules. Exchanges are
- stock - trading in securities,
- commodity - sales and resale of products,
- futures - contract trading,
- freight - services market,
- labor exchanges where labor is sold.
The issue of securities helps to raise the income of certain enterprises, to attract investment forces for their development. But simply issuing shares is not enough, it is also necessary to sell them profitably. It is for this stage, the main one, that speculators from stock exchanges are responsible.
Labor exchanges help to form the collective of an enterprise, and their huge databases of resumes of specialists in any field allow employers to find highly qualified specialists who are ready to work for the salary that the employer is willing to pay. Those who assist in the sale of securities, goods, the search for lucrative contracts or qualified employees, in most cases, receive a higher income than those whom they help. A modern speculator, as a rule, is engaged in several types of activities at once in his niche.
Speculation on currency exchanges
The currency exchange is the most important element of the infrastructure of this market segment, a public institution that forms the world economy as a whole, a system of economic relations between states. And in the days of the USSR, this type of speculation was severely punished, there was no free circulation of other types of currencies, except for the Soviet ruble, and the possession of foreign money was strictly prohibited.
Currency exchanges operate on the basis of an analysis of purchasing power and the formation of quotations for funds of various countries and regions. Speculation there is the sale and purchase of letters of credit, securities or foreign currency. But only professional economists with an analytical mindset and well-developed intuition can engage in such a business, since currency speculation is fraught with risk:
- unexpected decrease, increase in the value of one or more currencies,
- cancellation of the agreed transaction due to human factors,
- errors of brokers in accounting, analysis or planning of the transaction,
- technical or software failure in the sale and purchase systems, accounting and recording operations,
- obtaining false or incomplete information about the state of the market, analytical bases.
Currency speculators, as a rule, do not own any assets, they only buy them for a short time and sell them immediately after their price rises to a certain level.
Speculation in precious metals
This type of stock speculation has become widespread not so long ago, but it is developing rapidly. The most dangerous factor in this segment of the speculative market is informational. However, investments in precious metals have been considered the most reliable for many centuries. To get into this niche, you need to have an impressive start-up capital, and, ideally, a team of professionals in the field of economics, analytics and business planning.
On the exchanges of precious metals, futures and forward transactions are concluded. Under the terms of a futures transaction, contracts are concluded for the supply of certain valuable metals at a certain time, that is, in the future. A forward transaction on the precious metals exchange is an actual, real purchase of valuables, at the moment, at the present time. However, this does not mean that the owner of this asset will move cargo, wagons with gold or other metal. The speculator will simply resell the asset when the price rises.
The state is directly involved in the formation and control of the speculative market. Exchanges of all types are accredited at the state level, operate in accordance with regulations and articles of the legislation of the Russian Federation.
