THE ODD-LOT BUSINESS
243
for an odd-lot by a customer before the opening of the market,
it is executed by the odd-lot dealer at 14 (or with special securi-
ties, 24) from the first 100-share sale that day—or, as it is
commonly called, the “opening” sale. It sometimes happens,
however, that this opening sale of 100 shares, upon which the
price for the odd-lot is based, is difficult to determine. In active
markets many orders accumulate in the commission brokers’
offices overnight for execution at the opening. There may, for
example, be a large crowd waiting around the post of an active
stock like Bethlehem Steel common at 10 A.M. when the gong
announcing the opening is rung. In the immediate roar of
bids and offers two or more simultaneous first sales might
occur, at slightly different prices.” If no one can tell exactly
what the opening price for 100-share lots is, naturally the odd-
lot dealer cannot tell what price he should charge or pay his
customers. In such cases, however, the representatives of the
various odd-lot houses about the Bethlehem Steel post quickly
determine a fair opening price for Bethlehem Steel by averag-
ing the various simultaneous quotations. If two opening sales
for 100 shares of Bethlehem Steel common, for example,
should occur simultaneously at 95 and 9514, in all probability
the opening price would be declared to be 95%, and on this
price odd-lot purchases or sales of Bethlehem Steel common
would be based.
Occasionally, too, orders come to the odd-lot dealers to buy
or sell an odd-lot of stock “‘at the close.” Such orders are ordi-
narily executed on the final bid and asked quotations of the
day. It would, of course, be impracticable to execute odd-lot
orders at 14 from the last sale of 100 shares of the given stock
that day, since with inactive stocks the last sale may occur early
in the morning. Furthermore, the last sale of a stock might
be made at 50, while the closing bid and offer for it might be
48-49. The odd-lot dealer must also reserve the right to sell
odd-lots against full lots, and vice versa, and he cannot be
"7See Chapter VIII, p. 218.
