222 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE 
order is effective. “G.T.C.” indicates orders ‘‘good until 
countermanded”; “M.,” “orders for the month”; “Wk.” 
“orders for the week” ; if no sign at all is added, an order good 
for the day only is indicated. Stop orders are denoted by 
“Stop.” It will be recalled that stop orders are not limited at 
the price set, but simply become market orders when that price 
is reached.’® In addition to his book, market orders are handed 
to the specialist on slips made out by the brokers’ telephone 
clerks, and are not inscribed in his book but handled separately. 
The specialist’s book is, of course, not shown by him to others, 
except in case he is compelled to leave the floor, when he tem- 
porarily entrusts it to some one person—either another spe- 
cialist at the same post or some other member. 
The specialist, with his book and his market orders, is a 
factor of constantly varying importance in the market for each 
stock. Sometimes, especially in the more inactive stocks, he 
may have almost all the orders for a given stock, and will 
consequently make the market for it. But, of course, anyone 
at any time can take the market away from the specialist by 
quoting closer prices. Furthermore, there are sometimes sev- 
eral different specialists in a given stock, competing with each 
other. Moreover, the floor trader will, under normal circum- 
stances, compete with him to render prices closer, if there is a 
prospective profit of only 14% to be gained thereby. On the 
other hand, a majority of orders in the stock may drift into the 
hands of brokers in the crowd—in which case the specialist 
ceases to be a dominant factor in the market for the stock. 
Before the Opening of the Market.—We are now pre- 
pared to follow with readier comprehension a detailed and 
typical cross-section of the specialist’s daily work.*® For this 
purpose an active opening had best be selected, since this point 
in the day creates the most serious problems and misunder- 
standings. In order that the opening may be sufficiently active, 
19 See Chapter VI, p. 159. 
20 For the subsequent practical examples of the specialist’s work, the author acknowl. 
-dees his indebtedness to the address of Mr. Erastus T. Tefft previouslv cited.