THE FLOOR TRADER AND THE SPECIALIST 223
at this price, it would not be fair to quote the split opening
0434-9534. Thus the opening is printed on the tape as 3,000
shares from 9434 to 9514. But the 200-share sale cannot
simply be disregarded, so “200 sold 9534” is also put on the
tape. Meanwhile, orders which were stopped have been exe-
cuted at 95 as a fair opening price, but these, as previously
explained, are not put on the tape.
Returning to the specialist, we find that, in addition to the
2,000 shares, he has crossed 200 more, and has sold 500 besides
in the open market. Thus far, after doing everything humanly
possible, he has executed all his market orders, and 2,700 out
of his 3,100 original selling orders, leaving him 400 more to
sell at 95. Meanwhile the ticker reports the opening price as
“3,000 at 9434 to 9514,” and every customer who has placed
an order within those limits at once concludes that his stock
has been sold. The specialist may yet sell out his 400 at 93, his
200 at 9524, and his 400 at 9514, if the market moves in just
the right way. But if it grows somewhat dull and prices do not
rise again above 93, all the 14 and 14 stock customers, whose
orders, of course, cannot be executed under these circumstances,
are going to blame the specialist for not being able to sell their
stock, and quote the split opening of 9434-9514 as conclusive
proof that they have been done an injustice. Split openings
also sometimes create a suspicion that somehow the specialist
has bought at the lesser and sold at the greater price on his own
account. Indeed, years ago, one specialist in an opening of
61-6134 did attempt to buy for himself all the stock he had to
sell at 61, and to sell for himself all the stock he had to buy at
6134. He lasted just four days.
Execution of Stop-Loss Orders.—Another source of dif-
ficulty and misunderstanding arises from the execution of
“stop-loss orders.” As has been explained, a stop order becomes
a market order when its limit price is reached. It sometimes
happens that as stock prices decline on the Exchange, a figure
will be reached at which several stop orders will suddenly
