Derivatives and Bucketshops: A Forgotten History of Czech Financial Markets between the World Wars

Building upon exhaustive research of extant and often fragmentary contemporary resources, this paper provides a thorough analysis of financial options trading and sales in interwar Czechoslovakia. Whilst focusing primarily on a remarkable bucketshop episode occuring in the late twenties and early thirties, it also comprises the so far most comprehensive study on the historical development and practices of derivatives trading on the Prague Exchange including the eminent role of private banking firms. A distinct intertemporal and international perspective facilitates the establishment of numerous parallels and patterns, strikingly instructive in times of crises.