Relatively recently, the word "speculator" in Russia almost refers to curses. The Soviet Penal Code provided for punishment for such actions, and people who sell scarce goods at inflated prices did not like people. Today, speculation is recognized as a necessary element of a market economy that has certain functions.
The essence of the concept of "speculation"
In Latin, the word speculation means tracing. In modern explanatory dictionaries of foreign countries, this term means the following:
- purchase and sale of various goods at prices higher than market prices for the purpose of enrichment;
- purchase of exchange values with a view to their further resale and profit due to the difference in the purchase and sale rate;
- justified intent, the result of which is the receipt of profit.
Modern economists believe that speculation is enrichment through the use of price differences over a period of time. People today are engaged in similar activities in the markets of securities, valuable metals, currency, real estate, etc., that is, in all areas where it comes to big money. The purpose of speculation is to buy goods cheaper, and to sell - many times more expensive.
Spec functions
Today, as already noted above, speculators are recognized as an important element of the state’s economic system, as they perform certain functions.
- Simplify the process of selling goods and valuable assets in the free market.
- They play the role of compensators for transactions between the seller and the buyer that failed for any reason.
In fact, speculation is one of the parties to the transaction insurance, an intermediate link between the seller and the buyer of the goods. It was he who was entrusted with the function of the peaceful settlement of emerging disputes. The result of the activities of speculators is an increase in the number of transactions, the development of market relations and the prevention of price fluctuations in the markets.
Figuratively, such people in the market are divided into “bears” and “bulls”. The former sell goods, hoping to return them later at a lower price, while the latter, on the contrary, buy the goods in the hope of selling them even more expensive during a period of rising prices. Of course, this classification is very arbitrary, since one speculator can conduct transactions both in the role of a bull and in the role of a bear.
Today, economic and exchange experts predict the further development of this type of activity as a separate line of business.
Causes of speculation
Among the causes of speculation are a variety of market factors.
A bit of luck - and the speculator can instantly get rich. For example, during the war, people sell artworks and jewelry for nothing, which in peacetime are sold at market value.
The next reason is inflation. The result of the depreciation of money is the impoverishment of entire sections of society, including the wealthiest.
Destroyed national economy, disorganization of state and private enterprises lead to the fact that people tend to get rid of valuable things as soon as possible, which leads to the flourishing of speculation.
Political instability and distrust of citizens to power, weak government, disintegration of public structures, legislative shortcomings, insufficient functioning of law enforcement agencies lead to a sharp reduction in long-term investments. People stop investing "in business", preferring to transfer them to foreign bank accounts or to convert into material values.The result is the appearance on the market of a huge number of speculators offering their services.
All these phenomena have led to the fact that certain types of speculation have spread everywhere in Russia.
Stock speculation
In the process of transition of the Russian economy to the stage of market relations, many public institutions were created, without which the functioning of the free market is impossible. Among them are: joint stock and insurance companies, state and commercial banks, various exchanges and leasing organizations.
The exchange is an enterprise that has all the rights and obligations of a legal entity, the function of which is the formation of the wholesale market. To do this, the exchange recruits and trains brokers, provides them with jobs, keeps statistics of operations, determines current prices, parses emerging disagreements, etc.
Exchanges are classified by type of exchange commodity: futures, agricultural, foreign exchange and others.
The exchange uses 2 types of speculation: hedging and exchange speculation, which complement each other and are not possible separately. Hedging implies insurance of adverse changes in the price of a product, based on monitoring the dynamics of differences in real market prices and futures contracts for this product. Exchange speculation is a way to profit from trading based on the dynamics of change. futures contracts in space and time.
The activity of exchange speculators helps to match market prices with the actual value of goods.
Currency speculation
The foreign exchange market is a platform on which the purchase and sale of foreign currency, checks, letters of credit, etc. is carried out. It can be of two types: exchange and over-the-counter.
At its core, all financial transactions today can be called a kind of speculative activity. After all, their cause is not a commercial necessity. They are caused solely by financial considerations, and their main goal is speculation. The economy of the state as a whole is largely determined by such transactions. And their main purpose is to make a profit.
That is, currency speculation is an activity aimed at obtaining benefits from the resale of valuable assets at a higher price in this market, but some time after their acquisition, or immediately, but on a different platform.
Such foreign exchange transactions are associated with certain risks.
- Exchange rate risk - an unexpected change in the exchange rate.
- Performance - cancellation of a transaction as a result of the "human" factor: health problems, personal conflict between the buyer and the broker, etc.
- Personnel risk - errors of brokerage workers in the process of accounting, analysis and planning of exchange transactions.
- Technical - possible technical failures in the functioning of electronic means by which currency transactions are carried out.
- Information - the dissemination of insufficient or knowingly false information in order to artificially overvalue or increase the hype regarding a certain currency asset.
Precious metals market speculation
Today, such operations in the metal market are unprecedented in distribution. It is the activity of speculators represented by individual investors that determines the level of quotations of various metals.
Gold speculation has long been known. After all, it has long been the most reliable investment tool. However, such actions with platinum and palladium are very surprising.
Rising prices precious metals almost completely caused by a large number of speculative investments in precious metals. The most important growth factor Gold prices experts consider informational, since it is he who mainly affects the behavior of participants in transactions.
Real estate speculation
As a rule, people who are not familiar with the general situation in the real estate market, it is speculators who blame the rise in housing prices. However, this is only a partial truth, the main role here is played by the number of agent traders.
If there are a small number of speculators-traders on the real estate market, and they account for a significant part of the transactions of sale, they can really have a decisive influence on changes in market prices. However, it is worth considering that such a phenomenon is illegal, and the activities of such traders are suppressed by the state antimonopoly service.
Speculation and the state
The specific participation of the state in the regulation of speculative activity is to control the processes of creation and functioning of various exchanges, to appoint certain stock intermediaries and the development of regulations governing the activities of exchanges.
Since in the XX century in the USSR there was a struggle against counter-revolution, sabotage and speculation, then the punishment for such activities was supposed to be serious. For example, one of the decisions of the court of those times is: 9 years in prison for the resale of two pairs of sneakers. The fight against speculation today is concentrated in the hands of the state antimonopoly service. Its main task is to prevent artificially changing market prices by various speculative organizations.
