What is Speculative Trading? Meaning and Benefits | Espresso

Speculative Trading: All You Need To Know

When made correctly, trading has many benefits you might not know about. But the point remains the same: to make the trade perfectly without any mistakes. One of the major risks involved with any trade is the price action movement or the changes in stock prices. If the price change is not as you predicted, no one can prevent you from suffering losses. Similarly, when a huge number of assets are released into the liquidity pool simultaneously, it can lead to a market crash.

Published on 03 March 2023

This is why traders often rely on a particular strategy to help them maximize their profits and ensure open and closed trade positions are taken at the right time. Speculative trading is one of the major trading strategies that has become quite popular in recent times. Although it appears to be quite simple because one must speculate on or predict the price action movement of any specific trading instrument, the strategy necessitates a great deal more technical and in-depth knowledge.

What is speculative trading, and how does it work?

The first thing that you need to understand is what exactly speculative trading is before proceeding any further. Speculation means to predict anything based on your perception or someone else's belief. For example, if your cousin tells you that the brand new Louis Vuitton bag is wonderful, you might start saving money for this luxury accessory. You won’t judge it or research more about it because you have already speculated on its quality and beauty based on what your cousin said. This is what speculation is.

Therefore, speculative trading tells us that a trader will predict the price action movement, buy and sell prices, and the spread for future or forward trades based on speculation. These predictions depend primarily on external factors but sometimes also consider internal factors. In other words, you will speculate on the price based on current and past market price movements, profits made by other traders in the marketplace, and several such aspects. The problem is that speculative trading is highly volatile because you are predicting the future price, which may not be aligned with the real one.

What are the benefits of speculative trading?

From the definition, you might think speculative trading is risky, but if you can master the art and understand when and how to open the position, you will certainly ace the race. So, to help you understand, below are some of the major benefits you can enjoy with the help of predictive trading.

  • One of the primary benefits is that it will allow you to invest in any creating instrument and make profits on backward and forward price action movements. It means that you won't have to rely solely on the forward prices because you will be allowed to place a bid on the records of the market prices. Therefore, you can get easily versatile your trader portfolio for higher gains in the future.
  • Speculative trading brings more liquidity to the market, which is why you can easily open short positions and maximize profits. Traders who follow this particular trade strategy have the added advantage of opening and closing their trade positions based on the current market liquidity and assets in holding.
  • If you want to open a long position and leave the trade exposed to market vulnerabilities, you might make a huge profit within a small-time frame. However, it’s possible only if the market’s price action movement is aligned with what you speculated or predicted.
  • Another significant benefit of speculative trading is the reduction in the spread. Regardless of the market type, the spread is defined as the difference between the bid and the asking price or the buyer and selling price. If the spread is reduced, for example, to 0.001 pips, you will have a higher chance of making more profits. Besides, even if the trade you initiated suddenly suffered a loss, it won't be too much for your investment.

What types of risks are involved with speculative trading?

  • Regardless of what market you want to invest in, speculative trading will expose your capital investment to market vulnerabilities and improper price action movements. Acting out of FOMO might result in huge losses that cannot be incurred later.
  • Since the prediction will be involved, no one can guarantee you that your speculations will be right, even if the market seems to be stabilized.
  • Making profits out of speculative trading will require intense market research that is both time-consuming, cumbersome, and overwhelming.

Conclusion

Since we have discussed several important aspects of speculative trading, it is your responsibility to decide whether you are comfortable with the strategy and way of trade. Also, you should consider your portfolio so that you can make it immune from any changes in the market that won't be in your favor or aligned with the speculations you made. Besides this, you are ready to go if you have the fundamental knowledge about speculative trades, their performance, the benefits of the strategy, and the risks involved.

Chandresh Khona
Team Espresso

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