At the peak, 14 thousand guilders were paid for a single tulip bulb – more than a workman earned in his entire life those days. Less known is that the speculative bubble was largely driven by financial innovation. In the years before the Tulip Mania, new financial markets evolved in the Netherlands, including a stock exchange and futures markets.
Sophisticated trading techniques were developed, allowing short selling and the use of put and call options. Derivative contracts allowed massive trading in tulips that were not even planted yet – a genuine financial innovation at the time.