THE FLOOR TRADER AND THE SPECIALIST 217 
A broker with 100 shares of U. S. Rubber to sell may make 
a private agreement with the specialist or some other broker, 
to “stop” them with him—that is, to sell them to him either at 
the price of the next sale, or at a subsequent sale at a stated 
price. The principal purpose in “stopping stock,” as it is called, 
is, of course, to insure both parties against the danger of miss- 
ing a market, and the practice tends to stabilize the market 
and to reduce the number of separate fractional fluctuations. 
Since such an agreement is essentially a private transaction, 
although based upon the public market, a sale of stopped stock 
is not reported on the stock ticker, although, of course, the 
simultaneous sale in the open market upon which it depends is 
printed there. If, for instance, A as a seller stops 200 U. S. 
Rubber with B at 75, and if B later purchases 100 U. S. Rub- 
ber from C in the open market at 75, the quotation on the tape 
states the price at which both sales were made, but only the 
amount of stock publicly sold—or in this instance, the 100 
U. S. Rubber which B bought from C. Incidentally, this fact 
is often overlooked by statisticians in computing total sales.of 
stock on the Stock Exchange. 
Stock which is stopped at the opening must be offered with- 
out reference to any definite price, for the Constitution of the 
Exchange!” forbids the making of any bid, offer, or transac- 
tion before 10 A.M. or after 3 p.m. (Saturdays, after 12 M.). 
On a wide opening such agreements to stop stock are made 
“fair opening” —that is, at a fair mean between the high and 
low opening prices. If a stock simultaneously opened at 60 and 
61, a fair opening would usually be 6015. 
Congestion in the Specialist’s Business.—The specialist 
is often subject to great pressure of business when intense 
activity develops in the particular stocks in which he specializes. 
Sometimes he is much overworked at the opening of the mar- 
ket, which is apt to be the most congested and difficult period 
18 See Appendix VIIIg. 
“7 See Chapter III, p. 80, and Constitution of the Stock Exchange, Rules, Chapter I.