Not long ago, Nike released a pair of "Lightning Hook" sneakers jointly launched by its brand Air Jordan, a well-known musician and a well-known designer. The market response was strong and it was hard to find one pair. In the domestic market, the second-hand trading of this shoe has also become active. The price on a certain platform is several times or even dozens of times higher than the launch price (1,599 yuan/pair). The most expensive one is size 45.5, which is priced at 31,999 yuan, 19 times higher than the launch price. Although the price is high, the page shows that more than 1,000 people have paid.

Anyone who knows a little bit of economics can see that this is not a normal transaction, but a market speculation. It seems that the phenomenon of shoe speculation, which has only been quiet for a few months, has shown signs of resurgence.

Shoe speculation is not a new thing. It has existed for many years. At present, a shoe speculation circle with a certain market scale has been formed worldwide. According to insiders, the period of shoe speculation was from 2016 to 2019, and many people have made a fortune by shoe speculation in recent years. Data shows that in 2019, the global second-hand sneaker market reached 6 billion US dollars, and my country's second-hand sneaker market accounted for 1/6 of it. The madness of shoe speculation can be seen from the number of registered sneaker-related companies: in 2016, the number of sneaker-related companies in my country was 4,800, and by 2019, the number of sneaker-related companies increased to 9,200.

From the perspective of market laws, as long as the supply of any commodity exceeds the demand, its price will rise, especially some well-known brands launch limited edition products, which are sought after by the market and will generate higher premiums. However, the premium is not "overpriced" at will. When the price of a commodity rises too fast, the premium is too large, and exceeds a certain range, it is an abnormal phenomenon that violates the law of price. There must be human factors involved and the price of the commodity has been intervened. And shoe speculation has actually broken the market law, and there are promoters behind it who have the purpose of improper gain.

As early as October 2019, the Shanghai Branch of the People's Bank of China issued a financial briefing entitled "Beware of the Shoe Speculation Boom and Effectively Prevent Financial Risks" to warn about the domestic shoe speculation craze. The briefing clearly stated that there was a shoe speculation craze in the domestic sneaker resale, and the shoe speculation platform was actually a "drum-passing capital game", reminding all institutions to pay close attention and take effective measures to effectively prevent such risks. The briefing mentioned that shoe speculation transactions showed a trend of securitization, with huge daily trading volumes; some third-party payment institutions provided leveraged services such as installment payments to shoe speculation platforms, and the entry of leveraged funds increased financial risks; the operation was dark, and once the platform "ran away", it was easy to cause mass incidents.

After that, economists continued to expose the nature of shoe speculation, reminding those who joined the shoe speculation circle not to be confused by appearances. Some insiders also saw the danger of the circle and came out to expose the secrets, saying that shoe speculation is indeed a capital game similar to passing the parcel. Only those with sufficient capital and close access to manufacturers can get the "limited goods" deliberately made by those manufacturers. These people control the supply and monopolize the market, so they can naturally influence the price. The wave after wave of shoe speculators who joined in are just "leeks" one after another. In fact, after several years of development, the shoe speculation circle has formed a gray industrial chain, which has not only encouraged the trend of counterfeiting, but also promoted illegal fundraising, financial fraud, illegal pyramid schemes and other mass-related economic and financial illegal activities.

It is precisely because of the economic and financial risks that the functional departments of the Chinese government have increased the control of shoe speculation. At the beginning of this year, relevant departments required platforms engaged in second-hand transactions to formulate rules to regulate the phenomenon of shoe speculation. Some trading platforms also issued a "wear shoes, don't speculate" initiative and took measures to correct shoe speculation, such as updating trading forms, introducing risk control measures, and restricting transactions when the price of sneakers increases too much. However, judging from the recent resurgence of shoe speculation, it seems that it is not an easy task to eradicate this chaos, and we need to be prepared for long-term governance.

Obviously, the government regulatory authorities should issue and improve relevant laws and regulations as soon as possible to form a special governance mechanism for shoe speculation. We must strictly control the trading platforms involved in shoe speculation, strictly investigate speculators suspected of illegal shoe speculation, let the shoe trading be carried out within the market rules and controllable scope, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. At the same time, we should strengthen publicity and education, use cases to explain the law, and expose the interest chain behind shoe speculation through the media, so that the public can understand the interests of shoe speculation and form a social consensus of "wear shoes instead of speculating".

(Edit：admin)