Anyone buying options in the hope of getting rich is a speculator, not an investor. While they might lose money, they aren't being fleeced.
> And if adjustable-rate subprime mortgages were the oppressive product of the Great Recession, options trading might’ve filled their shoes for the current downturn.
This makes no sense to me whatsoever.
> wide bid-ask spreads that incur immediate losses for options traders.
A wide bid-ask spread might give you bad fills but that doesn't mean you incur an immediate losses. You might even turn a profit!
> To be clear: losing in the market is one thing, but managing to be systematically fleeced at a time when all boats were rising
Again, claims of people being fleeced proffered without any evidence. Buying options has a different payoff compared to buying stock. News at 11.
> Within that machine, encouraging or allowing leveraged options trading on short contracts among retail investors should be considered nothing less than criminal.
I'm not seeing what is supposed to be criminal here.
There's no attempt to explain how options actually work or why people lose money trading them. All we have is handwaving and conspiracy mongering. But I guess that's totally on brand for Jacobin.