Why do financial market crises occur so readily? In what sense do derivatives really exist? What can we truly know about the financial markets? Former City trader Simon S Gleadall persuasively argues that these questions are surprisingly philosophical in nature and that our current approach to understanding the markets must radically alter if financial disasters such as that of 2008 are to be avoided in future. In addressing these issues The Metaphysics of Markets serves as an introduction to the philosophy of finance, a subject hitherto largely unexplored.