Sugarcane Franc Goes Live

All the sugar merchants—even speculators who had never dealt in sugar before—immediately swarmed in like sharks scenting blood.

Soon, on the wooden board on the west side of the exchange hall, a board tall enough for three men, the exchange staff hung up the first contract.

It was a sugar contract maturing one month later, quoted at 1 franc 8 sous per pound.

Under the exchange's rules, the "trading unit" for sugar was 10,000 pounds. In other words, this contract represented the buyer's right to receive 10,000 pounds of spot sugar one month later at a price of 18,000 francs.

Since the Dutch had created futures trading long ago in order to sell Tulip, and afterward the United Kingdom and the Netherlands had quite a few small-scale futures markets, people were still very familiar with futures trading.

And so every merchant present immediately widened his eyes.

After France's currency reform, 1 franc equaled 10 sous. So a price of 1 franc 8 sous was nearly 30% higher than the current sugar market!

However, a middle-aged man with small eyes and a felt hat immediately walked up to the trading counter, pointed at the 1 franc 8 sous contract, and said in halting French that he wanted to buy it.

The surrounding crowd instantly let out a burst of cries:

"That price is a complete joke!"

"Has he gone mad? Sugar only rose 40% over the past half year, and he thinks it'll rise 28% in a month?!"

"Oh, the poor man. He'll lose everything down to the last drop of blood..."

After that, the second contract was hung up.

Before the small-eyed man could even propose the trade, an old man who had long been waiting at the counter beside him swiftly swallowed it down.

The third was hung up.