>Robert X. Cringely's plan for saving the world through Internet
>Derivatives...
>
>http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit19980903.html
Demented. There's no proof that hedges really do hedge individual risk, and they certainly have done nothing to reduce systemic instability. The kinds of risks he's talking about are, unlike exchange-traded futures & options, impossible to standardize, and involve extreme customization, which means complicated pricing that will almost certainly to be the seller's hidden advantage.
Oil futures trade on the NY Mercantile Exchange, not the CBOE.
Doug