Specie

point. This is a term used in foreign exchange dealings; it means the same as gold point, but gold point is the term more commonly used. Literally, specie means any kind of metal money, while there is but one meaning to gold.: Speculating for differences. London Stock Exchange term; said when a person buys or sells a stock merely in the hope of earning a gambling profit and not because he wishes to in-, vest in it or deliver it. _ Speculation. Dealing on expectations; buying in expectation of an advance or selling in expectation of a decline., There is a constant, large speculation in stocks, bonds, grain,: cotton and coffee. Speculative operations are conducted on margin—that is, speculators deposit with the brokers who execute their orders certain amounts of money, designated as margins, which are intended to protect the brokers in case the movement of prices should be against the speculators and they (the speculators) should be unwilling or unable to make good the lo sustained. A party who purchases a stock or a commodity in anticipation of a rise and pays the full price of it is not, in the usual acceptation, engaged in speculation. The customary margin furnished in a transaction in a stock is 10 per cent of the par (face) value of the stock dealt in— not the market value. The par value of a share of stock, in dealings as conducted on the New York Stock Exchange, is reckoned by percentage (100 being par), no matter what its amount may be in dollars. A margin of 10 per cent on 100 shares of a stock each of which is of the par value of $100 is i 7 $1,000; on 100 shares of stock each of which is of the amount of $50 the margin is $500 and on 100 shares each of which is of the amount of $25 the margin is $250. Most shares are for $100 each and such are called full shares, or more com-; monly, full-stock. Some shares are for $50 each and these are called half-stock. A few shares-are for $25 each and these are called quarter-stock. When the speculator puts up (provides) 10 per cent margin on a purchase of 100 shares of stock of the amount of $100 each the broker has received from him $1,000, while the cost of the stock, if purchased at roo, is $10,000. The difference of $9,000 is supplied by the broker, who charges the speculator interest on this sum. If the stock goes up and is sold at, say, 105, or 5 points above the purchase price, the speculator has made $500, from which, however, is to be deducted the broker’s commi ion, as well as the interest on the money supplied by the broker for use in the purchase of the stock. 492