It may easily be imagined that the existence of option dealing has sometimes a palpable effect upon market quotations, and, especially on Contango day or on its near approach, considerable fluctuations are often brought about by the buying and selling of those operators who have not been able during the currency of the period to buy or sell stocks to advantage. Stocks must be bought to satisfy call options, or stocks that have been put upon an unwilling purchaser must be cleared out, and these transactions naturally affect prices. CHAPTER X THE WARES OF THE MARKET It has been seen that the Stock Exchange is a market, of which the wares are stocks and shares. There is some considerable difference, however, between stocks and shares, and there are various kinds of stocks and various kinds of shares. It may be interesting and profitable to inquire into the distinctions, to examine, in fact, with some detail the wares of the market. A stockholder is frequently called a shareholder even by the most precise, but, strictly speaking, the terms are not synonymous; stocks are not shares. Stock is calculated by quantity and shares by number; stock is capital in a lump, while shares are capital divided into equal parts; although the unit of stock is usually £100, any quantity, such as £218 13_s._ 1_d._ worth, can, in the case of leading stocks, be bought, whilst shares, which are usually of the denomination of £1, £5, or £10, are indivisible, and can be dealt in only in multiples of their nominal value. All the various kinds of securities--including both stocks and shares--can conveniently be divided into three main classes according to the manner in which they are passed from owner to owner. There are inscribed stocks, registered securities, and securities to bearer; and this classification has been adopted by the Stock Exchange itself in drawing up those of its rules which relate to the settlement of bargains, each of the three classes having its own set of rules.