what does wall street speculation mean 
speculation refers to the act of investing in securities that have a high risk reward profile with the goal of obtaining substantial gains despite the risk of substantial losses an investor who speculates is likely focused on price fluctuations they may believe that the market has inaccurately priced a security and they re trying to capitalize on that disparity wall street speculators tend to be professional traders as opposed to retail investors who buy and hold stocks or other assets for the long term 