Pre-1970s options were stigmatized as speculation and market manipulation tools.

Evidence

Before the 1970s, age had not brought options respectability. Sometimes they were seen simply as wagers on stock-price movements. Options also seemed the perfect tool for the speculator. Because the cost of an option was and is typically much less than that of the underlying stock, a speculator who correctly anticipated price increases could profit considerably by buying calls, or benefit from decreases by buying puts. Sometimes such speculators themselves caused prices to move in the direction they wanted by spreading false rumors, for example so options also became associated with market manipulation. — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 523

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Options were once stigmatized securities but posed a tractable normal-science pricing problem — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 140; Fairer option pricing let 1970s exchanges prosper where predecessors failed — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 1158; Options trading faced regulatory gambling stigma persisting after exchange opening — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial…, 704 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• The Black-Scholes model legitimized options trading by rebutting gambling stigma #expands (0.88) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 703
• Options trading faced regulatory gambling stigma persisting after exchange opening #corroborates (0.85) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 704
• Efficient-markets and random-walk theory legitimized options against their scandalous reputation. #expands (0.80) — Donald MacKenzie & Yuval Millo, Constructing a Market, Performing Theory, 62
• Fairer option pricing let 1970s exchanges prosper where predecessors failed #expands (0.78) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 1158
• 1960s economists reframed stock options as rational and desirable despite Wall Street’s dismissal #contradicts (0.75) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 650
• Financial futures faced moral rather than practical barriers in the late 1960s. #corroborates (0.74) — Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, 634
• Mainstream financiers historically fused market speculation with occult forecasting #exemplifies (0.72) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 201