Modern speculative communities trace to the 1860s-70s founding of formal futures markets.

Evidence

However, as I will now argue, the rise of speculative communities must be located in a longer arc of historical changes originating in the dawn of modern finance capitalism and, specifically, in the second half of the nineteenth century, when the first formal futures markets were established in North America and Western Europe. It was the time when speculative markets were hurled to the fore of capitalist life and the fictitious trading of options, futures, and derivatives grew intemperately, upending industrial economies’ social contract. These first and unprecedented heights of speculative activity shaped markets’ relationship with publics for years to come. They caused tremors that shook up fin de siècle politics and portended new power conflicts. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 165

Categorization

• XREF: Shifts financialization’s usual 1970s Bretton Woods anchor backward; connects to Braudel-era longue durée histories of market origins I’ve read. — connects to: Speculative communities originated in late-nineteenth-century futures markets, not the post-Bretton Woods era. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living With…, 110; Formal futures markets in the late nineteenth century upended the industrial social contract.; Futures trading achieved unprecedented scale in nineteenth-century Chicago. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 68

Broader Connections

• Speculative communities originated in late-nineteenth-century futures markets, not the post-Bretton Woods era. #corroborates (0.95) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 110
• Formal futures markets in the late nineteenth century upended the industrial social contract. #corroborates (0.80)
• Futures trading achieved unprecedented scale in nineteenth-century Chicago. #exemplifies (0.75) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 68