The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1873-01-08

/
Is quite large, and great deal of money Ii
made BY 1t, but like all other kinds Of specu
lation, 1t Is dangerous to the inexperienced.
"ScUop" ls term less flu iliar TO the public
| than any Of the foregoing. The "scoop-game,
a very common one 10 Wall street, Ia played
| in this way: A clique of SPECTATORS. let us
suppose, want 10 get possession OF a good dea
| son to believe will soon advance in price; but,
of course, they want to get 1t cheap, aRd they
accomplish their object by starting break IN
the stock. This Ia done by Offering it at low
| figures. They instruct their brokers to Offer
small Quantities under the market price, and
keep on Offering it lower and lower, until
other holders OF the same stock, who are not
| In their confidence, become alarmed and sell
| out at the best price they can get. In the
meantime the clique have other brokers buy.
| ing all the stock mat Is offered; and thus they
get possession of large amount OF stock at
| low prices, which they can probably sell few
| days later at large profit. The SCOOP. p.game.
is one of the most profitable that the Wall
| street gentlemen play.
The process of "Washing"-a very good one
| in It's ordinary sense-is often employed In
Wall street. ta"Washing" Ia peculiar operation
there-very peculiar, indeed-and the outsider
ought to keep as far as possible from Inc suds.
A clique is as necessary to 1t as to the scoop
business. There is stock on the list, for In
stance, that the public persist In letting alone,
and the holders of 1t want to stir up some ex-
citement in this stock, and induce the public
to buy it. How do they proceed? Their plan
is quite simple. Several brokers-let US sup
pose four-ale employed to ''wash" the stag
nant stock. No. l offers to sell. No. takes
what is offered. No. 3 wants to buy. No.
sells all he wants. This is kept up Tor few
days, the price rising steadily as the "wash"
proceeds; but no one share of the stock is &C.
tually solo. But the innocent outsider, sup
posing these fctlcious transactions to be real,
and thinking there Is chance to make turn
in the stock, goes In as buyer himself. Ten
to one he will never get as much for the stock
as he paid, for 1t falls stagnant again when the
speculators have got 1t of their hands.
"Coppering" is term recently introduced,
but very we'll understood In The street. 1t
means operating In direction contrary to
that of another operator. For example, one
man buys particular stock, believing That IL
will advance; another man, observing mat tne
first has not been lucky In his operations sells
this particular stock, believing that II will de:
cline. Or.the first may sell stock "short."
and the second, calculating on the others ILL.,
luck, will buy. This sort of speculation is
carried on only by the smaller class OF opera
tors, and may be set down as sheer gambling.
A "straddle" Is a double privilege, emitting
the purchaser to either "put" or "call"
stock. The bonus is generally double the
or "call."
A 'margin" ls The money deposited with
the broker through whom stocks are pur-
chased as security against sudden deprecla-
ton. The amount Is generally about ten per
cent. of the par value Of the stock. MAR
gins" are the rocks on which 30 many adVen-
turers on the uncertain waters of speculation
are utterly wrecked.
"Carrying" means holding stocks on a
s'margin," In anticipation OF higher prices.
Often stock Is carried" for ak months, but
generally the time is not more than two
months, and frequently not more than g
week. Quick turns are the rule with the ma
jorlty of speculators.
''Watering" is the operation of suddenly In
creasing the capital stock OF q company. wall
street was thoroughly famillarized with 1t by
the reckless Erie managers. who earned no
torety that honorable men certainly would
not covet. 1t ls very dangerous to holders OF
the stock previously the market.