THE FLOOR TRADER AND THE SPECIALIST 229 
one of the chief reasons why in such inactive stocks occasional 
bad breaks in price of this kind occur. 
“Touching Off Stop-Loss Orders.”—Sometimes complaint 
is made to the Stock Exchange, that traders there make it a 
practice to “gun for stop orders.” In other words, if a trader 
knew that by selling a few shares short he could sufficiently 
exhaust the demand for it at higher prices, and cause its price 
to decline to a point where several stop-loss orders would auto- 
matically be converted into market selling orders and cause a 
further price decline, he could cover his short sale at the lower 
price thus reached and thus obtain a profit for himself. In 
point of fact, this sequence of events occurs now and then, but 
more by accident than by design. For it must be remembered 
that the short seller cannot possibly know all the factors of 
supply and demand existing in the market. Such an attempt 
might involve sales of a large number of shares, and the conse- 
quent danger of heavy losses. Moreover, the depression of a 
price by such selling might equally well uncover large buying 
orders, which would either halt the decline, or in certain cir- 
cumstances (as with stop orders to buy) drive prices back to 
higher levels. 
Of course, if the specialist attempted to take advantage of 
his knowledge of his orders, he would by no means be certain 
of success, since, as we have seen, the dominant influence of 
supply and demand may really exist at a given time in the 
crowd rather than in his book. Moreover, such an attempt by 
the specialist would be practically certain of detection by the 
crowd, and, owing to the concentration of orders in his hands, 
he would be certain of conviction. The price of such an attempt 
on his part would be expulsion from the Exchange, permanent 
disgrace, and the end of his career as a security dealer. 
Violent declines due to stop orders being accidentally 
“touched off” will always occur now and then in the Stock 
Exchange. An example of much the same thing has, indeed, 
been given above. The newspaper man, bending over his type-