VOObyM

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
selling, as I had foreseen; and, of course, my purpose was achieved. When the traders
and the customers of the commission houses who had listened to the uncontradicted bull
dope on TT saw that the rise in Tropical synchronised with heavy selling and a sharp
break in Equatorial, they naturally concluded that the strength of TT was merely a
smoke-screen a manipulated advance obviously designed to facilitate inside liquidation
in Equatorial Commercial, which was largest holder of TT stock. It must be both long
stock and inside stock in Equatorial, because no outsider would dream of selling so
much short stock at the very moment when Tropical Trading was so very strong. So they
sold Tropical Trading and checked the rise in that stock, the insiders very properly not
wishing to take all the stock that was pressed for sale. The moment the insiders took
away their support the price of TT declined. The traders and principal commission
houses now sold some Equatorial also and I took in my short line in that at a small
profit. I hadn't sold it to make money out of the operation but to check the rise in TT.
Time and again the Tropical Trading insiders and their hard-working publicity man
flooded the Street with all manner of bull items and tried to put up the price. And every
time they did I sold Equatorial Commercial short and covered it with TT reacted and
carried E C with it. It took the wind out of the manipulators' sails. The price of TT
finally went down to 125 and the short interest really grew so big that the insiders were
enabled to run it up 20 or 25 points. This time it was a legitimate enough drive against
an over-extended short interest; but while I foresaw the rally I did not cover, not wishing
to lose my position. Before Equatorial Commercial could advance in sympathy with the
rise in TT I sold a raft of it short with the usual results. This gave the lie to the bull talk
in TT which had got quite boisterous after the latest sensational rise.
By this time the general market had grown quite weak. As I told you, it was the
conviction that we were in a bear market that started me selling TT short in the fishingcamp
in Florida. I was short of quite a few other stocks but TT was my pet. Finally,
general conditions proved too much for the inside clique to defy and TT hit the toboggan
slide. It went below 120 for the first time in years; then below 110; below par; and still I
did not cover. One day when the entire market was extremely weak Tropical Trading
broke 90 and on the demoralisation I covered. Same old reason! I had the opportunity
the big market and the weakness and the excess of sellers over buyers. I may tell you,
even at the risk of appearing to be monotonously bragging of my cleverness, that I took
in my 30,000 shares of TT at practically the lowest prices of the movement. But I wasn't
thinking of covering at the bottom. I was intent on turning my paper profits into cash
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