Produced by Stephen Blundell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Successful Stock Speculation _By_ J. J. BUTLER _Written April 1922_ _Published December 1922_ _Published by_ NATIONAL BUREAU OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION 395 Broadway, New York City _This Book Is Not Copyrighted_ We believe the principles expounded in this book are of immense value to everyone who buys speculative securities, and we do not object to anyone reproducing any part of it, whether or not we are given credit for it. National Bureau of Financial Information Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Variant spellings have been retained. Bold text has been indicated as +bold+. CONTENTS PART 1 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS Chapter Page I. THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK 7 II. WHAT IS SPECULATION 9 III. SOME TERMS EXPLAINED 13 IV. A CORRECT BASIS FOR SPECULATING 17 PART 2 WHAT AND WHEN TO BUY AND SELL V. WHAT STOCKS TO BUY 23 VI. WHAT STOCKS NOT TO BUY 25 VII. WHEN TO BUY STOCKS 29 VIII. WHEN NOT TO BUY STOCKS 33 IX. WHEN TO SELL STOCKS 35 PART 3 INFLUENCES AFFECTING STOCK PRICES X. MOVEMENTS IN STOCK PRICES 41 XI. MAJOR MOVEMENTS IN PRICES 43 XII. THE MONEY MARKET AND STOCK PRICES 47 XIII. MINOR MOVEMENTS IN PRICES 49 XIV. TECHNICAL CONDITIONS 51 XV. MANIPULATIONS 53 PART 4 TOPICS OF INTEREST TO SPECULATORS XVI. MARGINAL TRADING 61 XVII. SHORT SELLING 65 XVIII. BUCKET SHOPS 69 XIX. CHOOSING A BROKER 71 XX. PUTS AND CALLS 73 XXI. STOP LOSS ORDERS 75 PART 5 CONCLUDING CHAPTERS XXII. THE DESIRE TO SPECULATE 81 XXIII. TWO KINDS OF TRADERS 87 XXIV. POSSIBILITIES OF PROFIT 91 XXV. MARKET INFORMATION 95 XXVI. SUCCESSFUL SPECULATION 103 _PART ONE_ INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS CHAPTER I. THE PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK