242 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE 
from his customer at the bid price, or sell them to his customer 
at the asked price. If, for instance, the odd-lot dealer receives 
an order to buy or to sell 20 shares of Rand Mines at once, he 
hastens to the appropriate post and finds that the stock is 
offered at 35%, and that 3474 is bid for it. Without waiting 
for the brokers who are bidding for or offering the stock to 
effect a compromise and make a sale at some price between 
these two figures, the odd-lot dealer may buy the 20 shares of 
Rand Mines from the commission broker at the bid price of 
347% or may sell them to him at the asked price of 35%. 
Unless, however, the odd-lot dealer is directed to obtain an in- 
stant execution based on these bid and asked prices, it is usually 
understood that an order for odd lots should be executed }% 
from the price established by the next 100-share sale. 
“Quarter Stocks.”—Naturally the higher the price of a 
stock, the greater become the financial commitments and risks 
of the odd-lot dealers who purchase or sell it. For this reason, 
odd-lot dealers make it a practice to sell high-priced shares at 
14 instead of 14 over, and to buy them at }4 instead of 1% 
under, the next 100 share sale. An alternative sometimes pre- 
ferred by customers for odd-lots of such stocks is to purchase 
them from the odd-lot dealer at 14 over the “asked” quotation, 
and to sell them to him at 7% under the “bid” quotation. 
The point of differentiation between what constitutes high 
and low priced stocks for the purpose of odd-lot dealings, is 
subject to variation according to current circumstances. The 
Stock Exchange itself does not intervene in this situation, since 
it naturally could not undertake to dictate to its members the 
prices at which the latter can deal on their own account. 
Odd-Lot Transactions “at the Opening.”—In determin- 
ing prices for odd-lot transactions, confusion occasionally 
arises because of the 100-share quotations themselves. When 
a market order—that is, an order which does not fix any spe- 
cific price at which the odd-lot will be sold or bought—is given