Editing Speculation (section)

== Government responses and regulation ==
The economic disadvantages of speculation have resulted in a number of attempts over the years to introduce regulations and restrictions to try to limit or reduce the impact of speculators. States often enact such [[financial regulation]] in response to a crisis. Note for example the [[Bubble Act 1720]], which the British government passed at the height of the [[South Sea Bubble]] to try to stop speculation in such schemes. It remained in place for over a hundred years until repealed in 1825. The [[Glass–Steagall Act]] passed in 1933 during the [[Great Depression in the United States]] provides another example; most of the Glass-Steagall provisions were repealed during the 1980s and 1990s. The [[Onion Futures Act]] bans the trading of [[futures market|futures contracts]] on onions in the United States, after speculators successfully cornered the market in the mid-1950s; it remains in effect {{asof|2021|lc=y}}.

The [[Soviet Union]] regarded any form of private trade with the intent of gaining profit as speculation ({{langx |ru| спекуляция}}) and a criminal offense and punished speculators accordingly with fines, imprisonment, confiscation and/or [[Corrective labor colony|corrective labor]]. Speculation was specifically defined in article 154 of the Penal Code of the USSR.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Статья 154. Спекуляция ЗАКОН РСФСР от 27-10-60 ОБ УТВЕРЖДЕНИИ УГОЛОВНОГО КОДЕКСА РСФСР (вместе с УГОЛОВНЫМ КОДЕКСОМ РСФСР)|url=https://zakonbase.ru/content/part/417416|website=zakonbase.ru|access-date=2020-05-02}}</ref>

=== Regulations ===
In the [[United States]], following passage of the [[Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act]] of 2010, the [[Commodity Futures Trading Commission]] (CFTC) has proposed regulations aimed at limiting speculation in futures markets by instituting position limits. The CFTC offers three basic elements for their regulatory framework: "the size (or levels) of the limits themselves; the exemptions from the limits (for example, hedged positions) and; the policy on aggregating accounts for purposes of applying the limits".<ref name="CFTC Limits">{{cite web |url= http://www.cftc.gov/IndustryOversight/MarketSurveillance/SpeculativeLimits/index.htm#P6_864 |title= Speculative Limits |publisher= U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission |access-date= 21 August 2012}}</ref> The proposed position limits would apply to 28 physical commodities traded in various exchanges across the US.<ref name="CFTC Position Limits">{{cite web |url= http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr6260-12 |title= CFTC Approves Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding Regulations on Aggregation for Position Limits for Futures and Swaps|publisher= U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission |access-date= 21 August 2012}}</ref>

Another part of the Dodd-Frank Act established the [[Volcker Rule]], which deals with speculative investments of banks that do not benefit their customers. Passed on 21 January 2010, it states that those investments played a key role in the [[2008 financial crisis]].<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/21/AR2010012104935.html | title= Obama's 'Volcker Rule' shifts power away from Geithner|author= David Cho and Binyamin Appelbaum |date= 22 January 2010 |newspaper= [[The Washington Post]]|access-date= 13 February 2010}}</ref>

=== Proposals ===
{{See also|Speculative attack|Currency crisis|Black Wednesday|Fictitious capital|Financial transaction tax|Land value tax|Currency transaction tax|Tobin tax|Spahn tax|}}
Proposals made in the past to try to limit speculation – but never enacted – included:
* The [[Tobin tax]] is a tax intended to reduce short-term currency speculation, ostensibly to stabilize foreign exchange.
* In May 2008, German [[leader]]s planned to propose a worldwide ban on oil trading by speculators, blaming the 2008 [[price of oil|oil price]] rises on manipulation by [[hedge fund]]s.<ref name='Ban'>
{{Cite news
 | first= Ambrose| last= Evans-Pritchard | title = Germany in call for ban on oil speculation
 | date= 26 May 2008 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/05/26/cnoil126.xml
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080528214654/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/05/26/cnoil126.xml
 | url-status = dead
 | archive-date = 28 May 2008
 | work = [[The Daily Telegraph]] | access-date = 28 May 2008
}}
</ref>
* On 3 December 2009, Representative [[Peter DeFazio]], who blamed "reckless speculation" for the [[2008 financial crisis]], proposed the introduction of a [[Let Wall Street Pay for the Restoration of Main Street Bill|financial transaction tax]], which would have specifically targeted speculators by taxing financial-market [[Security (finance)|securities transactions]].