224 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE 
orders at a price other than the actual opening price, which it 
is doubtful if they could otherwise exactly secure. But this 
process of stopping stock leaves many buyers in excess, who, 
lest they miss their market, hand their orders at about 9:57 
A.M. to the specialist to execute for them. At 9:59, therefore, 
the specialist discovers that these order slips which have been 
handed to him will force him to buy 2,200 shares at the market 
on the opening. On the other hand, he has 3,100 shares to sell 
at 95. Meanwhile, about thirty brokers and traders have 
gathered in the crowd around him. With all these orders both 
to buy and to sell, he must, of course, make both bids and offers 
for the stock on the opening. He cannot guess exactly at what 
price the first sale will be made, but tries to approximate it as 
nearlv as he can on the basis of the orders he has received. 
Trading at the Opening.—Hardly has the gong sounded 
at just 10 A.M. when the specialist cries “1,000 at 95, 9434 for 
a thousand,” meaning that he will sell 1,000 shares at the 
former price, and buy 1,000 at the latter. Simultaneously, 
some other broker bids “9514 for 500” and another cries 
“Sold”; another man offers “500 at 9434” and someone else 
says “Take them”; while (as the specialist learns a moment 
later) another pair on the edge of the crowd make a sale of 
200 shares at the higher figure of 9534. All three transactions 
happen at the same instant. *A fraction of a second later the 
specialist cries “7§ for thousand, a thousand at 5—take a 
thousand at 5—=2!” These cryptic and tremendously abbrevi- 
ated words mean that the specialist bids for 1,000 shares at 
947%, and offers 1,000 at 95, and then buys first 1,000 shares 
from his selling customers for his buying customers at 95, and 
then another 1,000 shares. 
The next problem is to determine what the opening price 
was. As we have seen, it has really been a “split opening,” 
for 500 shares have been sold at 9434, 2,000 shares at 95, 500 
shares at 9574, and 200 at 9534. The last-mentioned sale has 
not been skilfully made. and. considering the few shares sold