Stock market dealing

[morqthana]

Shorting is immoral, but investing in stock is how businesses grow.

Actually, TBF, I can see where you're coming from.

Nobody thinks it's immoral to buy shares in Acme Anvils because you think the price is going to rise, and if it doesn't rise, or if it falls, you lose nothing or you lose a bit. So is it immoral to buy call options in Acme Anvils and leverage your investment to make a higher return, at the risk of a complete loss if the price falls or remains the same?

And if that's OK, is it immoral to buy put options if you think the price is going to fall, and lose if it stays the same or rises?

But the problem is deciding where does legitimate hedging to protect against price fluctuations of commodities you have to buy, or assets you own, morph into a bit of speculation because you think the price of something is going to fall, morph into flooding the market with billions in short selling to drive the price down?