THE ODD-LOT BUSINESS 
253 
tion of the shares of some old and conservative corporations.*® 
The effectiveness of the Exchange odd-lot system to this end 
is sufficiently obvious to need no further comment. The steady 
increase in the odd-lot business shows the growth of the invest- 
ment class in this country, and is to be regarded as one of the 
healthiest of economic indications of our financial endurance 
and stability. 
A further benefit rendered by the odd-lot system arises 
from the fact that it broadens, steadies, and strengthens the 
whole stock market. We have seen that if many small in- 
vestors buy odd-lots from the odd-lot dealer, he is in turn led 
to buy round lots in the 100-share wholesale market. Simi- 
larly, extensive selling of odd-lots soon exerts pressure on the 
wholesale market, as the odd-lot dealer liquidates there in 100- 
share lots the smaller lots sold to him by the public. Thus the 
force of odd-lot purchases and sales is quickly imparted to the 
general 100-share market. And it is a general truth that the 
broader the market can be made, the more satisfactory its prices 
will be to everyone.3 
Odd-Lot Purchases in Declining or Rising Markets.— 
The economic advantage of the large odd-lot interest in the 
market is particularly manifest in declining markets, which are 
frequently stabilized by heavy odd-lot buying. There is no 
more confirmed bargain-hunter in the financial field than the 
odd-lot purchaser. Odd-lot buying on declines in the market 
is one of the principal factors which steadies falling prices and 
restores equilibrium, and with it public confidence in American 
business and American enterprise.’* A large proportion of odd- 
lot buying represents purchases of stocks in small amounts for 
permanent investment. The odd-lot certificates thus find their 
way into the strong boxes of a vast number of only moderately 
wealthy but thrifty and ambitious people in all parts of the 
country. 
12 See Chapter IV, p. 119 
3 See Chapter II, p. 48. 
“4 See Appendix IXa.