Looks like a Futures Market has been created in the crypto space. A dangerous development.
A question:
Can an individual buy a LISK IOU at say 1,000 sats and then sell it at 2,000 sats, making BTC profit without any LISK changing hands?
If yes, then this is a futures contract market and they are manufacturing BTC profit out of thin air!

LISK is NOT released yet. period.
anything that is being bought/sold is just a promise out of thin air.
these exchangers might not even have enough LISK to cover withdrawals by the time of release and when anybody would want to withdraw what they have bought so far.
I completely agree, but are they buying these 'future contracts' low and selling them high? If they are then they are making manufacturing BTC profit out of thin air!