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Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
market manipulation and the over-the-counter sale of stocks and bonds is in the
character of the clientele rather than in the character of the appeal. J. P. Morgan & Co.
sell an issue of bonds to the public that is, to investors. A manipulator disposes of a
block of stock to the public that is, to speculators. An investor looks for safety, for
permanence of the interest return on the capital he invests. The speculator looks for a
quick profit.
The manipulator necessarily finds his primary market among speculators who are
willing to run a greater than normal business risk so long as they have a reasonable
chance to get a big return on their capital. I myself never have believed in blind
gambling. I may plunge or I may buy one hundred shares. But in either case I must have
a reason for what I do.
I distinctly remember how I got into the game of manipulation that is, in the marketing
of stocks for others. It gives me pleasure to recall it because it shows so beautifully the
professional Wall Street attitude toward stock-market operations. It happened after I had
"come back" that is, after my Bethlehem Steel trade in 1915 started me on the road to
financial recovery.
I traded pretty steadily and had very good luck. I have never sought newspaper publicity,
but neither have I gone out of my way to hide myself. At the same time, you know that
professional Wall Street exaggerates both the successes and the failures of whichever
operator happens to be active; and, of course, the newspapers hear about him and print
rumors. I have been broke so many times, according to the gossips, or have made so
many millions, according to the same authorities, that my only reaction to such reports is
to wonder how and where they are born. And how they grow! I have had broker friend
after broker friend bring the same story to me, a little changed each time, improved,
more circumstantial.
All this preface is to tell you how I first came to undertake the manipulation of a stock
for someone else. The stories the newspapers printed of how I had paid back in full the
millions I owed did the trick. My plungings and my winnings were so magnified by the
newspapers that I was talked about in Wall Street. The day was past when an operator
swinging a line of two hundred thousand shares of stock could dominate the market.
But, as you know, the public always desires to find successors to the old leaders. It was
Mr. Keene's reputation as a skilful stock operator, a winner of millions on his own hook,
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