Commerce on the Stock and Commodity Exchanges [Die Börsenverkehr

Abstract

A stock or commodity exchange is a market in which the purchase and sale of large quantities of goods and money, of stocks and commercial bills of exchange, take place between professional businessmen. Those who wish to buy or sell the stocks or types of commodities available on the exchange for example, farmers who wish to sell grain, or large millers who wish to purchase it; capitalists who wish to purchase stocks as a financial investment; and others who wish to sell securities because they need cash are most readily assured, at any given time, of finding sellers or buyers on this tremendous market, and at a price most favorable to themselves. In order to do so, they give their order to an agent on commission [Kommissiondr] who is represented on the exchange. The person placing the order thereby either designates the price at the upper limit at which they are prepared to buy or sell (they "limit" it for example, to buy 10,000 rubles at a price not over, but naturally if possible under, 210 marks for each 100 rubles); or, if they really wish to buy or to sell in any case, they place an "unlimited order" (for example, to buy 10,000 rubles at the "best price," that is at the cheapest-possible price which the agent can attain on the market). How many commodities or securities of a specific kind are offered to, or sought by, the bearer of such an order at any given time, and what sort of price is offered or demanded for them, naturally depend upon a diverse range of unanticipatible causes that influence the motivations of the participants to buy or to sell. It is something that is impossible to outline here in detail and that we have therefore only attempted to sketch quickly.