Shadow Market

You don't do your business in the daylight, out in the public market. Instead, you're sneaking into back alleys and making deals with a guy named Snake.

A shadow market consists of buying and selling that takes place away from the normal market. It's not the same as the black market, where the trade is explicitly illegal. Instead, the shadow market is more of an out-of-the-way alternative to the public markets.

Operating in the shadow market, you don't get the lawyers involved. You don't bother with contracts. Like, "I'll trade you my Astin Martin for that Van Gogh painting" or "Stake me $10,000 for my next trip to Vegas and I'll give you 50% of anything I win."

Some of the shadow markets are more formal, but still offer alternatives to the usual routes of commerce. Instead of getting your movie funded by a major Hollywood studio, you raise cash among some cinephile Russian oligarchs. Now you've entered the shadow market...