THE FLOOR TRADER AND THE SPECIALIST 203 
their own risk “make a market” for the stock in question. In 
the main, the work of these dealers is speculative—as indeed 
the work of a dealer of any sort is bound to be. They will buy 
stock from a broker at a slight concession, or sell it to him at a 
slight advance, on their own responsibility and in the hope of 
obtaining a profit later through the sale or purchase of the 
stock, as the case may be. When, for example, Jenkins goes 
to the post where U. S. Rubber stock is traded in with a cus- 
tomer’s order to sell 100 Rubber at 50 and finds no broker 
ready to purchase from him, a dealer may buy his stock, and a 
little later, if fortune favors, sell it for a slight profit. Dealers 
are fundamental to all markets in the world, and it could only 
be due to artificial conditions if we did not find them equally 
necessary to the continuous market made for securities on the 
floor of the Stock Exchange. 
The Floor Trader.—One of the most important types of 
Jealers on the Stock Exchange is the so-called “floor trader.” 
He is a professional speculator who trades in stocks for small, 
quick profits. Being a member of the Stock Exchange, he can 
execute his own orders and thus escape paying commissions, 
which the speculating non-member customer in a broker's office 
must pay. For reasons presently to be explained, the number 
of Exchange members ordinarily operating as floor traders 
is today much smaller than before the war. 
A graphic sketch of the typical floor trader has been given 
by a former governor of the Stock Exchange :2 
These gentlemen afford an interesting study. They do not accept 
orders; each man is in business for himself. They entertain no illu- 
sions, and they recognize no alliances with each other. Each one 
follows his own inclinations, and does not permit himself to be moved 
by tips, or rumors, or gossip, or sentiment. He scoffs brazenly at all 
forms of “inside information.” His power of observation is keen, 
and his habit of analysis and deduction is wonderfully developed. In 
the surging crowd around an active stock he sees things with micro- 
scopic eye, and acts with surprising promptness; once his conclusions 
3 Van Antwerp, p. 285.