Neo Market: Understanding New Territories

The world has transformed in a million ways that we can barely catch up in its rapid flow of change. Our interactions and behaviours have evolved at such a complex pace that we can barely keep up with our own selves. These transformations have inspired new movements on how we, as a race, interact with each other. From the recent technological booms to energy consumption and earth preservations, we have come to a stage where traditional knowledge is not sufficient for us to function efficiently in this new breadth of platforms. Our process of consumption is entering a whole new dimension on how we can sustain our increasing demands to satisfy our wants and needs. As such, in response to this evolution, the ways we create individual resources have also undergone a lot of mutation to support our objectives. The market as we know it, as one would say, left the group. Perhaps a couple of years back.

We have created new sources to supplement this new population of consumption addicts through an inevitable consequence I would openly call, Neo Market.

So what is it exactly? The market has existed for as long as humans have engaged in trade. Always had the same definition. Always had the same functions.

In a traditional narrative, a Market is an area or arena in which commercial dealings are conducted. That is a market pertaining to the venue where transactions happen. The other side of it is defined as a regular gathering of people for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other commodities. Supposedly, in its regular form that should be a fitting description without any indication of abstraction. But here’s the thing, we are way past those ‘regular’ functions. The market, went from 0 to 100 in the past couple of years.

Although there are varying forms as to how the market operates, the general idea is that it’s an area of trade where exchange of goods and services happen and where profits are generated after every activity. Simply put, one goes there either to buy or to sell. Across the years, and for good reasons, this simple form of trade has ensured livelihoods and provided the necessities required. It is extremely efficient and safe. It requires only a product or service that is then exchanged for certain monetary value. Everyone had it good until the dawn of the Stock Market.

How this phenomenon came about is more or less a result of wanting to conduct commerce in a secure and controlled environment and you never would’ve guessed where these early transactions took place.

"...financiers realized they had to do something to mitigate all that risk."

Before investors yelled across trade floors and threw order forms into the air, they conducted business in coffee shops. Early stocks were handwritten on sheets of paper, and investors traded these stocks with other investors in coffee shops.

In other words, coffee shops were the first real stock markets due to the fact that investors would visit these markets to buy and sell stocks. Before long, somebody realized that the entire business world would be more efficient if somebody made a dedicated marketplace where businessmen could trade stocks without having to order a coffee or yell across a crowded café.

The first genuine stock markets didn’t arrive until the 1500s.

 The world’s first stock markets are generally linked back to Belgium. Bruges, Flanders, Ghent, and Rotterdam in the Netherlands all hosted their own “stock” market systems in the 1400s and 1500s.

However, it’s generally accepted that Antwerp had the world’s first stock market system. Antwerp was the commercial center of Belgium and it was home to the influential Van der Beurze family. As a result, early stock markets were typically called Beurzen.

The East India Company is widely recognized as the world’s first publicly traded company with one simple reason why: risk.

Put simply, sailing to the far corners of the planet was too risky for any single company. When the East Indies was first discovered to be a haven of riches and trade opportunities, explorers sailed there in droves. Unfortunately, few of these voyages ever made it home. Ships were lost, fortunes were squandered, and financiers realized they had to do something to mitigate all that risk.

As a result, a unique corporation was formed in 1600 called “Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading with the East Indies”. This was the famous East India Company and it was the first company to use a limited liability formula.

Investors realized that putting all their “eggs into one basket” was not a smart way to approach investment in East Indies trading. Let’s say that a ship returning from the East Indies had a 33% chance of being seized by pirates. Instead of investing in one voyage and risking the loss of all invested money, investors could purchase shares in multiple companies. Even if one ship was lost out of 3 or 4 invested companies, the investor would still make a profit.

In 1602, the Dutch East India Company officially became the world’s first publicly traded company when it released shares of the company on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Stocks and bonds were issued to investors and each investor was entitled to a fixed percentage of East India Company’s profits.

- Johnson Hur

https://bebusinessed.com/history/history-of-the-stock-market/

"Ambitions have changed from humble homes to shameless pursuit of grander lifestyles creating a hybrid segment in the market."

As history would tell you, this event transformed the face of economics into multitudes of possibilities for people to enjoy the benefits and privileges of the place called Market. It has allowed players or individuals to achieve a certain level of wealth disproportionate to the earning capacity one can make over a century ago. Today we have venues drastically disrupting our means to accumulate profit at a speed unimaginable, in a short span of under ten years. We are being introduced to different trading platforms almost every day with different variations and iterations taking cues from each other. From the power of indexing to rapid acceleration of commodities and refreshing trade performance of bonds, amongst this group, FOREX and digital money are getting ahead of the market evolution. The continuous economic battle of global currencies has created a robust stage amongst brokers and investors to test their prowess to analyse and execute measured predictions with the promise of glory in the form of captured revenue in just a matter of hours and for some even, in minutes. It is a revolutionary game that provides an adrenalin pumping action set in real time data fed from global markets. We have shifted preferences in ways of managing our finances.

"They have created behavioural savings process but overlooked the opportunity to present the power of investing to their customers."

Suddenly, banks have been relegated to a basic institution. Not to say that they have met their end but their role has been shrunk to supporting these recent financial activities. Although admittedly, technology have been generous to them in solidifying their purpose as an industry of utility instead of becoming pioneers to facilitate such market innovations. Not all hope is lost for them of course. With their core ability to move money, store value, and access credit, banks can obtain the upper hand in developing technological experiences that service the utility. It is unfortunate that they have created behavioural savings process but overlooked the opportunity to present the power of investing to their customers. That would have changed their game. With a meager 1-3% annual interest, the value of storing alone has become an undesirable prospect to increasing one’s wealth. Players have decided to put savings at the end of their list and investing at the top of their priorities. They are looking to maximise the potential of their income by consciously deciding to stay ‘broke’ and spend later. Ambitions have changed from humble homes to shameless pursuit of grander lifestyles creating a hybrid segment in the market. Along with this comes the invention of digital currencies that are just as ridiculous of an idea if only they weren’t actually ‘real’. Even Facebook recently launched its own Libra to pit against Gemini with values breaking the ceilings and a surprisingly unexpected success in the field of financial technology. These platforms created a community of elite players willing to engage for high returns with a small amount of caution for the risks involved as well.

Welcome to the Neo Market. Where the stakes are high and the rewards are even higher.

Forget what was said about secure and controlled environment. Securities in exchange for security is the name of the game. Controlled in utmost conditions and protected by laws and regulations but unhinged from restrictions. This newfound ‘oil' is slowly trickling down towards the mass population and we are witnessing a rise of the middle class thanks to this market’s ability to produce millionaires in a short span of time.

"...as a creative thinker, it is safe to get ahead of the learning curve so we may produce works that are smart and lucrative..."

We are entering a new world of wealthy players and a shift in consumer behaviours due to these activities, opening opportunities to create new businesses and a chance to lay out fresh strategies no one has ever experienced before. As a brand designer and developer, what are the necessary steps to take in order for us to get to a level of understanding where we will be able to communicate at the same range of thinking as they do? These are extremely smart breed of individuals willing to take on the world without questioning any amount and their eyes set only on the prize.

Knowing what the future presents to us, I find it necessary to expose ourselves wholeheartedly to the possibilities of grasping, at the very least, the basics of this freshly minted mine of Neo Market. This is a young market with barely any legislation and regulations yet but as a creative thinker, it is safe to get ahead of the learning curve so we may produce works that are smart and lucrative and always respectful to the fact that our grown traditions are no longer traditional.

"I hope you would have the same energy to stay curious and discover industrial regions unfamiliar to your field but know that they are just as important."

We will soon witness a future functioning in a world of robotics and machine learning. What we know now will not be enough to stay on the side of creation and execution. Jobs will be replaced. New ones will be created. The ratio of humans to machines will be interesting and hopefully we will not allow ourselves to become obsolete in the presence of a smarter market unforgiving in performance and production. These are opening a whole new array of topics deserving of further research and discussion but my goal in writing this is not to offer an answer to understanding the unknown but to trigger my interest in an aggressively growing and steadily strengthening power of the Neo Market. I hope you would have the same energy to stay curious and discover industrial regions unfamiliar to your field but know that they are just as important. That in this ever changing and constantly transforming world of economics, may we come out as equals in contributing to the global market in terms of providing value to the growing wealth of financial knowledge.