Also forgot the biggest reason: "they allow you to buy and sell volatility". Ok, but volatility isn't an asset. So this must be the original "synthetic asset",

Also forgot the biggest reason: "they allow you to buy and sell volatility". Ok, but volatility isn't an asset. So this must be the original "synthetic asset", long before all the other exotics came on the scene. On one hand, why should I care what other people do with their money. But what worries me is that with normal markets, assets have intrinsic value: corn, oil, securities. They're all things people want. The market can always assume this is true, but with synthetic "assets" like trading volatility, it's not true and that creates a market built on a false pretense.