Financial derivatives represent a wildly opaque global market that experts estimate is theoretically worth over a quadrillion dollars, which is hilariously much larger than the entire physical economy of planet Earth.

A closer look

Financial derivatives represent a wildly opaque global market that experts estimate is theoretically worth over a quadrillion dollars, which is hilariously much larger than the entire physical economy of planet Earth. These incredibly complex financial instruments are essentially just highly leveraged side bets made by wealthy bankers regarding the future performance of underlying assets, completely disconnected from any actual productive industry. If a farmer grows wheat, the derivatives market involves ten different Wall Street traders gambling billions of dollars on what the price of that specific wheat might be in six months. It is incredibly comforting to realize that the stability of the global economic system rests firmly upon a towering, unregulated mountain of imaginary paper wealth that nobody actually fully understands, waiting to spectacularly collapse the next time a computer algorithm gets slightly confused