[Mark1808]

Futures & options are a zero sum game because their is a fixed maturity and all positions must be closed out. This means every original buyer must eventually sell and every original seller must eventually buy. The net effect for all participants will be zero as every winner is balanced out by a loser.

The stock market has no fixed end point and the value of all shares can either rise or fall without their having to be a loser for every winner. Lets take a company with a million shares outstanding at $10. If 100 shares trade at $11 then the holders of 999,900 shares are a $1 per share richer without their being an offsetting loss. The same is true of the real estate market.