A "put" is a negotiable contract giving the holder the privilege to sell a specified number of shares of a certain stock to the maker at a fixed price, within a specified time. A "call" is the exact reverse. It is a negotiable contract giving the
To speculate is to theorize about something that is uncertain. We can speculate about anything that is uncertain, but we use the word "speculation" in this book with particular reference to the buying and selling of stocks and bonds for the purpos
We maintain that there is only one basis upon which successful speculation can be carried on continually; that is, never to buy a security unless it is selling at a price below that which is warranted by assets, earning power, and prospective futu
There has been so much publicity given to bucket shops, nearly everybody is familiar with the term. A broker runs a bucket shop when he sells stock to his clients on margin and either never buys the stock for their accounts, or else sells it immed
It is very important that you choose a good broker. No matter how careful you are, it is possible to make a mistake. However, if you choose a broker who is a member of the New York Stock Exchange, you have eliminated a very large percentage of you
Stock prices move up and down in cycles. These are the major movements in prices, but there may be many minor movements up and down within the major movements. These stock price movements nearly always precede a change in business conditions; that
Stock prices are influenced largely by manipulation. Years ago when the volume of trading on the New York Stock Exchange was small compared with what it is today, it was possible to influence the entire market by manipulation, but it would be very
From the point of view of adequacy and economy of service, two types of banking systems require attention; namely, that characterized by a large number of relatively small local independent banks, chartered under general laws, and exemplified in thi
A large part of the business of investment banking in the United States is conducted by corporations and firms organized for the purpose of buying and selling investment securities, especially bonds and mortgages. Rarely, if ever, do these concerns
Banks differ from one another chiefly in the nature and degree of their specialization, in legal status, and in the place they occupy in the system to which they belong. Some banks devote the major portion of their effort to the conduct of exchanges
One of the most important functions of commercial banks is the collection for their customers of checks and drafts drawn on other institutions. When these documents are received, the accounts of customers who deposited them are credited with the amo
By commercial paper is meant the credit instruments or documents which the credit system now in general use throughout the commercial world regularly brings into existence and liquidates. The essence of this system is buying and selling on time. T
Though the encouragement of exportation, and the discouragement of importation, are the two great engines by which the mercantile system proposes to enrich every country, yet, with regard to some particular commodities, it seems to follow an opposit
The increase and riches of commercial and manufacturing towns contributed to the improvement and cultivation of the countries to which they belonged, in three different ways: First, by affording a great and ready market for the rude produce of th
In that rude state of society, in which there is no division of labour, in which exchanges are seldom made, and in which every man provides every thing for himself, it is not necessary that any stock should be accumulated, or stored up before-hand,
Bounties upon exportation are, in Great Britain, frequently petitioned for, and sometimes granted, to the produce of particular branches of domestic industry. By means of them, our merchants and manufacturers, it is pretended, will be enabled to sel
PART I. Of the Motives for Establishing New Colonies. The interest which occasioned the first settlement of the different European colonies in America and the West Indies, was not altogether so plain and distinct as that which directed the establi
When free from the taint of monopoly, trade unions, as has been shown, help rather than hinder the natural forces of distribution. Collective bargaining is normal, but barring men from a field of employment is not so. Connected with this undemocra
Labor Saving and Capital Concentrating There is a common impression that whatever saves labor usually requires an increase of capital in the industry where the economy is secured, and this impression is justified by the experience of the centur
The Possibility of a Law of Technical Progress It might seem that inventions were not subject to any influence that can be described under the head of a law. Genius certainly follows its own devices, and inventive power that has in it any touch
The Efficiency of Static Forces in Dynamic Societies The static state which has thus far been kept in view is a hypothetical one, for there is no actual society which is not changing its form and the character of its activities. Five organic ch
Displacement of Labor and Capital by Inventions Inventions are labor-saving. Employers are engaged in a race with each other in reducing the outlays involved in producing goods, and a common way of doing this is to devise machinery that will do