Note 439 — Chapter XIX

One factor complicates this. Are all the hundred share sales recorded? In our chapter on "Volume of Money and Volume of Trade," we called attention to a statement to the effect that brokers get together before the market opens, and compare "stop loss" orders, matching these with other orders, with the understanding that they automatically go into effect if the "market" reaches the prices indicated. The statement indicated that this substantially increases sales beyond the recorded totals, as such sales do not get on the ticker. I think, however, that this cannot throw our reckoning out greatly. The great majority of sales are not on "stop loss" orders. None of the sales of "floor traders," who average a third of the total trading (Pujo Committee Report, Feb. 28, 1913, p. 45), would be on "stop loss" orders. The bulk of the rest is not. Moreover, not all stop loss orders, by any means, would be executed in this manner. It is not easy to see how, under the rules and practices of the Exchange, many other sales could go unrecorded, except on days of greatest stress. On September 25, 1916, when over 2,300,000 shares were sold, the daily paper spoke of sales missed by the ticker, which was swamped with sales to be recorded, as an item of some magnitude. But the Ticker is wonderfully efficient. It sometimes gets behind the market by several minutes, but it rarely misses anything, under ordinary conditions.