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Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
for the sure gambling profit. Gold was pouring into this country through the huge
purchases of war material. They tell me that the promoters, while making their plans for
bringing out Borneo stock, marked up the opening price three different times before
their first transaction was officially recorded for the benefit of the public.
I had been approached to join the pool and I had looked into it but I didn't accept the
offer because if there is any market manoeuvring to do, I like to do it myself. I trade on
my own information and follow my own methods. When Borneo Tin was brought out,
knowing what the pool's resources were and what they had planned to do, and also
knowing what the public was capable of, I bought ten thousand shares during the first
hour of the first day. Its market debut was successful at least to that extent. As a matter
of fact the promoters found the demand so active that they decided it would be a mistake
to lose so much stock so soon. They found out that I had acquired my ten thousand
shares about at the same time that they found out that they would probably be able to
sell every share they owned if they merely marked up the price twenty-five or thirty
points. They therefore concluded that the profit on my ten thousand shares would take
too big a chunk out of the millions they felt were already as good as banked. So they
actually ceased their bull operations and tried to shake me out. But I simply sat tight.
They gave me up as a bad job because they didn't want the market to get away from
them, and then they began to put up the price, without losing any more stock than they
could help.
They saw the crazy height that other stocks rose to and they began to think in billions.
Well, when Borneo Tin got up to 120 I let them have my ten thousand shares. It checked
the rise and the pool managers let up on their jacking-up process. On the next general
rally they again tried to make an active market for it and disposed of quite a little, but
the merchandising proved to be rather expensive. Finally they marked it up to 150. But
the bloom was off the bull market for keeps, so the pool was compelled to market what
stock it could on the way down to those people who love to buy after a good reaction, on
the fallacy that a stock that has once sold at 150 must be cheap at 130 and a great
bargain at 120. Also, they passed the tip first to the floor traders, who often are able to
make a temporary market, and later to the commission houses. Every little helped and
the pool was using every device known. The trouble was that the time for bulling stocks
had passed. The suckers had swallowed other hooks. The Borneo bunch didn't or
wouldn't see it.
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