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A comment on Show HN: Onionfutures.com: transferable contracts for future delivery of onions.

Re:Show HN: Onionfutures.com: transferable contracts for fut... by damnitbuilds on Monday May 18, 2026 @05:59PM (#48186325)
Can anyone explain this for those not involved in the West Coast allium trade ?
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Re:Show HN: Onionfutures.com: transferable contracts for fut... by a11ce on Monday May 18, 2026 @06:25PM (#48186640)
Sure! In 1955, two traders very aggressively cornered then shorted the onion futures market, bankrupting a bunch of onion farmers. This led to the passing of the Onion Futures Act[1], banning the sale of onion futures. This has become something of a financial meme.

OnionFutures.com sells 'private, transferable contracts for the future physical delivery of onions'. This, by my reading of the Onion Futures Act, is legal! So the site is a joke about the OFA (hence the first FAQ question being 'Is this legal?') but also you can actually buy a contract for the future delivery of an onion (and receive a UUID that you can privately resell).

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_Futures_Act

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