Thread

1. joegibbs · 1789794613 · focus · HN ↗

   Why was the law against onion futures passed in the first place? Couldn’t the same scheme be done with garlic, or sweet potatoes, or turnips or something?

   1. gostsamo · 1789796046 · focus · HN ↗

      A guy cornered the market in the fifties, caused a scandal, they made a special exception.

      1. joegibbs · 1789799957 · focus · HN ↗

         But what I’m saying is, why did they only cover onions? I don’t think there’s anything stopping someone from cornering the market in other commodities just as easily

         1. weakened_malloc · 1789801854 · focus · HN ↗

            Because the size of the market was/is so small that you're actually able to corner it. Oil or Treasury futures are far too big that no single person could ever corner it.

            1. microtherion · 1789805015 · focus · HN ↗

               Though the Hunt brothers made a pretty good run at the Silver market in 1980.

               1. defrost · 1789805359 · focus · HN ↗

                  China went all in on rare earth concentrate processing, taking the environmental hits that no one else wanted to touch.

                  That paid off in a concentrated lock on the bulk of rare earth applications.

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