Speculation
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Speculation has a special meaning when talking about money. The person who speculates is called a speculator. A speculator does not buy goods to own them, but to sell them later. The reason is that he wants to profit from the changes of market prices.
One tries to buy the goods when they are cheap and to sell them when they are expensive. There is a good chance to do that as long as the market price of a good changes often in different directions.
Speculation includes the buying, holding, selling, and short-selling of stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, collectibles, real estate, derivatives or any valuable financial instrument. It is the opposite of buying because one wants to use them for daily life or to get income from them (as dividends or interest).
Speculation is one of the market roles in western financial markets. The others are hedging, long term investing and arbitrage. Speculators do not plan to keep an asset for a long time.[1]
[change] References
- ↑ Macquarie Bank. Futures - Frequently asked questions.