This does not even address optimizing profits. At this point, you're probably not surprised to find out that it's Bob. In addition to the physical asset risk Bob has, he faces environmental risk and associated liabilities. In fact, the physical assets by themselves also bear as much market risk as a trade position. In order to determine the true and complete value of an asset and to manage the associated market risks, Bob must first identify and value these risks accurately.
Market risk is the possibility of loss due to changing market values.
The probability and potential amount of loss over a specified period of time equals the amount of risk. Bob's assets are the equivalent of a combination of these transactions and contain the same risk as Joe's speculative trades. Let's take a look at some examples, where the asset is the same as a combination of outright buy and sell transactions. A trade position or an asset can create or offset risk. It requires very sophisticated systems with complex quantitative analysis engines to accurately measure and value these risks.