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双语·股票大作手回忆录 第二章

所属教程:译林版·股票大作手回忆录

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2022年04月21日

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BETWEEN the discovery that the Cosmopolitan Stock Brokerage Company was ready to beat me by foul means if the killing handicap of a three-point margin and a point-and-a-half premium didn't do it,and hints that they didn't want my business anyhow,I soon made up my mind to go to New York,where I could trade in the office of some member of the New York Stock Exchange.I didn't want any Boston branch,where the quotations had to be telegraphed.I wanted to be close to the original source.I came to New York at the age of 21,bringing with me all I had,twenty-five hundred dollars.

I told you I had ten thousand dollars when I was twenty,and my margin on that Sugar deal was over ten thousand.But I didn't always win.My plan of trading was sound enough and won oftener than it lost.If I had stuck to it I'd have been right perhaps as often as seven out of ten times.In fact,I always made money when I was sure I was right before I began.What beat me was not having brains enough to stick to my own game—that is,to play the market only when I was satisfied that precedents favored my play.There is a time for all things,but I didn't know it.And that is precisely what beats so many men in Wall Street who are very far from being in the main sucker class.There is the plain fool,who does the wrong thing at all times everywhere,but there is the Wall Street fool,who thinks he must trade all the time.No man can always have adequate reasons for buying or selling stocks daily—or sufficient knowledge to make his play an intelligent play.

I proved it.Whenever I read the tape by the light of experience I made money,but when I made a plain fool play I had to lose.I was no exception,was I?There was the huge quotation board staring me in the face,and the ticker going on,and people trading and watching their tickets turn into cash or into waste paper.Of course I let the craving for excitement get the better of my judgment.In a bucket shop where your margin is a shoestring you don't play for long pulls.You are wiped too easily and quickly.The desire for constant action irrespective of underlying conditions is responsible for many losses in Wall Street even among the professionals,who feel that they must take home some money every day,as though they were working for regular wages.I was only a kid,remember.I did not know then what I learned later,what made me fifteen years later,wait two long weeks and see a stock on which I was very bullish go up thirty points before I felt that it was safe to buy it.I was broke and was trying to get back,and I couldn't afford to play recklessly.I had to be right,and so I waited.That was in 1915.It's a long story.I'll tell it later in its proper place.Now let's go on from where after years of practice at beating them I let the bucket shops take away most of my winnings.

And with my eyes wide open,to boot!And it wasn't the only period of my life when I did it,either.A stock operator has to fight a lot of expensive enemies within himself.Anyhow,I came to New York with twenty-five hundred dollars.There were no bucket shops here that a fellow could trust.The Stock Exchange and the police between them had succeeded in closing them up pretty tight.Besides,I wanted to find a place where the only limit to my trading would be the size of my stake.I didn't have much of one,but I didn't expect it to stay little forever.The main thing at the start was to find a place where I wouldn't have to worry about getting a square deal.So I went to a New York Stock Exchange house that had a branch at home where I knew some of the clerks.They have long since gone out of business.I wasn't there long,didn't like one of the partners,and then I went to A.R.Fullerton & Co.Somebody must have told them about my early experiences,because it was not long before they all got to calling me the Boy Trader.I've always looked young.It was a handicap in some ways but it compelled me to fight for my own because so many tried to take advantage of my youth.The chaps at the bucket shops seeing what a kid I was,always thought I was a fool for luck and that that was the only reason why I beat them so often.

Well,it wasn't six months before I was broke.I was a pretty active trader and had a sort of reputation as a winner.I guess my commissions amounted to something.I ran up my account quite a little,but,of course,in the end I lost.I played carefully;but I had to lose.I'll tell you the reason:it was my remarkable success in the bucket shops!

I could beat the game my way only in a bucket shop;where I was betting on fluctuations.My tape reading had to do with that exclusively.When I bought the price was there on the quotation board,right in front of me.Even before I bought I knew exactly the price I'd have to pay for my stock.And I always could sell on the instant.I could scalp successfully,because I could move like lightning.I could follow up my luck or cut my loss in a second.Sometimes,for instance,I was certain a stock would move at least a point.Well,I didn't have to hog it,I could put up a point margin and double my money in a jiffy;or I'd take half a point.On one or two hundred shares a day,that wouldn't be bad at the end of the month,what?

The practical trouble with that arrangement,of course,was that even if the bucket shop had the resources to stand a big steady loss,they wouldn't do it.They wouldn't have a customer around the place who had the bad taste to win all the time.

At all events,what was a perfect system for trading in bucket shops didn't work in Fullerton's office.There I was actually buying and selling stocks.The price of Sugar on the tape might be 105 and I could see a three-point drop coming.As a matter of fact,at the very moment the ticker was printing 105 on the tape the real price on the floor of the Exchange might be 104 or 103.By the time my order to sell a thousand shares got to Fullerton's floor man to execute,the price might be still lower.I couldn't tell at what price I had put out my thousand shares until I got a report from the clerk.When I surely would have made three thousand on the same transaction in a bucket shop I might not make a cent in a Stock Exchange house.Of course,I have taken an extreme case,but the fact remains that in A.R.Fullerton's office the tape always talked ancient history to me,as far as my system of trading went,and I didn't realise it.

And then,too,if my order was fairly big my own sale would tend further to depress the price.In the bucket shop I didn't have to figure on the effect of my own trading.I lost in New York because the game was altogether different.It was not that I now was playing it legitimately that made me lose,but that I was playing it ignorantly.I have been told that I am a good reader of the tape.But reading the tape like an expert did not save me.I might have made out a great deal better if I had been on the floor myself,a room trader.In a particular crowd perhaps I might have adapted my system to the conditions immediately before me.But,of course,if I had got to operating on such a scale as I do now,for instance,the system would have equally failed me,on account of the effect of my own trading on prices.

In short,I did not know the game of stock speculation.I knew a part of it,a rather important part,which has been very valuable to me at all times.But if with all I had I still lost,what chance does the green outsider have of winning,or,rather,of cashing in?

It didn't take me long to realise that there was something wrong with my play,but I couldn't spot the exact trouble.There were times when my system worked beautifully,and then,all of a sudden,nothing but one swat after another.I was only twenty-two,remember;not that I was so stuck on myself that I didn't want to know just where I was at fault,but that at that age nobody knows much of anything.

The people in the office were very nice to me.I couldn't plunge as I wanted to because of their margin requirements,but old A.R.Fullerton and the rest of the firm were so kind to me that after six months of active trading I not only lost all I had brought and all that I had made there but I even owed the firm a few hundreds.

There I was,a mere kid,who had never before been away from home,flat broke;but I knew there wasn't anything wrong with me;only with my play.I don't know whether I make myself plain,but I never lose my temper over the stock market.I never argue with the tape.Getting sore at the market doesn't get you anywhere.

I was so anxious to resume trading that I didn't lose a minute,but went to old man Fullerton and said to him,“Say,A.R.,lend me five hundred dollars.”

“What for?”says he.

“I've got to have some money.”

“What for?”he says again.

“For margin,of course,”I said.

“Five hundred dollars?”he said,and frowned.“You know they'd expect you to keep up a 10 per cent margin,and that means one thousand dollars on one hundred shares.Much better to give you a credit—”

“No,”I said,“I don't want a credit here.I already owe the firm something.What I want is for you to lend me five hundred dollars so I can go out and get a roll and come back.”

“How are you going to do it?”asked old A.R.

“I'll go and trade in a bucket shop,”I told him.

“Trade here,”he said.

“No,”I said.“I'm not sure yet I can beat the game in this office,but I am sure I can take money out of the bucket shops.I know that game.I have a notion that I know just where I went wrong here.”

He let me have it,and I went out of that office where the Boy Terror of the Bucket Shops,as they called him,had lost his pile.I couldn't go back home because the shops there would not take my business.New York was out of the question;there weren't any doing business at that time.They tell me that in the 90's Broad Street and New Street were full of them.But there weren't any when I needed them in my business.So after some thinking I decided to go to St.Louis.I had heard of two concerns there that did an enormous business all through the Middle West.Their profits must have been huge.They had branch offices in dozens of towns.In fact I had been told that there were no concerns in the East to compare with them for volume of business.They ran openly and the best people traded there without any qualms.A fellow even told me that the owner of one of the concerns was a vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce but that couldn't have been in St.Louis.At any rate,that is where I went with my five hundred dollars to bring back a stake to use as margin in the office of A.R.Fullerton & Co.,members of the New York Stock Exchange.

When I got to St.Louis I went to the hotel,washed up and went out to find the bucket shops.One was the J.G.Dolan Company,and the other was H.S.Teller & Co.I knew I could beat them.I was going to play dead safe—carefully and conservatively.My one fear was that somebody might recognise me and give me away,because the bucket shops all over the country had heard of the Boy Trader.They are like gambling houses and get all the gossip of the profesh.

Dolan was nearer than Teller,and I went there first.I was hoping I might be allowed to do business a few days before they told me to take my trade somewhere else.I walked in.It was a whopping big place and there must have been at least a couple of hundred people there staring at the quotations.I was glad,because in such a crowd I stood a better chance of being unnoticed.I stood and watched the board and looked them over carefully until I picked out the stock for my initial play.

I looked around and saw the order-clerk at the window where you put down your money and get your ticket.He was looking at me so I walked up to him and asked,“Is this where you trade in cotton and wheat?”

“Yes,sonny,”says he.

“Can I buy stocks too?”

“You can if you have the cash,”he said.

“Oh,I got that all right,all right,”I said like a boasting boy.

“You have,have you?”he says with a smile.

“How much stock can I buy for one hundred dollars?”I asked,peeved-like.

“One hundred;if you got the hundred.”

“I got the hundred.Yes;and two hundred too!”I told him.

“Oh,my!”he said.

“Just you buy me two hundred shares,”I said sharply.

“Two hundred what?”he asked,serious now.It was business.

I looked at the board again as if to guess wisely and told him,“Two hundred Omaha.”

“All right!”he said.He took my money,counted it and wrote out the ticket.

“What's your name?”he asked me,and I answered,“Horace Kent.”

He gave me the ticket and I went away and sat down among the customers to wait for the roll to grow.I got quick action and I traded several times that day.On the next day too.In two days I made twenty-eight hundred dollars,and I was hoping they'd let me finish the week out.At the rate I was going,that wouldn't be so bad.Then I'd tackle the other shop,and if I had similar luck there I'd go back to New York with a wad I could do something with.

On the morning of the third day,when I went to the window,bashful-like,to buy five hundred B.R.T.the clerk said to me,“Say,Mr.Kent,the boss wants to see you.”

I knew the game was up.But I asked him,“What does he want to see me about?”

“I don't know.”

“Where is he?”

“In his private office.Go in that way.”And he pointed to a door.

I went in.Dolan was sitting at his desk.He swung around and said,“Sit down,Livingston.”

He pointed to a chair.My last hope vanished.I don't know how he discovered who I was;perhaps from the hotel register.

“What do you want to see me about?”I asked him.

“Listen,kid.I ain't got nothin' agin yeh,see?Nothin' at all.See?”

“No,I don't see,”I said.

He got up from his swivel chair.He was a whopping big guy.He said to me,“Just come over here,Livingston,will yeh?”and he walked to the door.He opened it and then he pointed to the customers in the big room.

“D' yeh see them?”he asked.

“See what?”

“Them guys.Take a look at 'em,kid.There's three hundred of 'em!Three hundred suckers!They feed me and my family.See?Three hundred suckers!Then yeh come in,and in two days yeh cop more than I get out of the three hundred in two weeks.That ain't business,kid—not for me!I ain't got nothin' agin yeh.Yer welcome to what ye've got.But yeh don't get any more.There ain't any here for yeh!”

“Why,I—”

“That's all.I seen yeh come in day before yesterday,and I didn't like yer looks.On the level,I didn't.I spotted yeh for a ringer.I called in that jackass there”—he pointed to the guilty clerk—“and asked what you'd done;and when he told me I said to him:‘I don't like that guy's looks.He's a ringer!’And that piece of cheese says:‘Ringer my eye,boss!His name is Horace Kent,and he's a rah-rah boy playing at being used to long pants.He's all right!’Well,I let him have his way.That blankety-blank cost me twenty-eight hundred dollars.I don't grudge it yeh,my boy.But the safe is locked for yeh.”

“Look here—”I began.

“You look here,Livingston,”he said.“I've heard all about yeh.I make my money coppering suckers' bets,and yeh don't belong here.I aim to be a sport and yer welcome to what yeh pried off 'n us.But more of that would make me a sucker,now that I know who yeh are.So toddle along,sonny!”

I left Dolan's place with my twenty-eight hundred dollars' profit.Teller's place was in the same block.I had found out that Teller was a very rich man who also ran up a lot of pool rooms.I decided to go to his bucket shop.I wondered whether it would be wise to start moderately and work up to a thousand shares or to begin with a plunge,on the theory that I might not be able to trade more than one day.They get wise mighty quick when they're losing and I did want to buy one thousand B.R.T.I was sure I could take four or five points out of it.But if they got suspicious or if too many customers were long of that stock they might not let me trade at all.I thought perhaps I'd better scatter my trades at first and begin small.

It wasn't as big a place as Dolan's,but the fixtures were nicer and evidently the crowd was of a better class.This suited me down to the ground and I decided to buy my one thousand B.R.T.So I stepped up to the proper window and said to the clerk,“I'd like to buy some B.R.T.What's the limit?”

“There's no limit,”said the clerk.“You can buy all you please—if you've got the money.”

“Buy fifteen hundred shares,”I says,and took my roll from my pocket while the clerk starts to write the ticket.

Then I saw a red-headed man just shove that clerk away from the counter.He leaned across and said to me,“Say,Livingston,you go back to Dolan's.We don't want your business.”

“Wait until I get my ticket,”I said.“I just bought a little B.R.T.”

“You get no ticket here,”he said.By this time other clerks had got behind him and were looking at me.“Don't ever come here to trade.We don't take your business.Understand?”

There was no sense in getting mad or trying to argue,so I went back to the hotel,paid my bill and took the first train back to New York.It was tough.I wanted to take back some real money and that Teller wouldn't let me make even one trade.

I got back to New York,paid Fullerton his five hundred,and started trading again with the St.Louis money.I had good and bad spells,but I was doing better than breaking even.After all,I didn't have much to unlearn;only to grasp the one fact that there was more to the game of stock speculation than I had considered before I went to Fullerton's office to trade.I was like one of those puzzle fans,doing the crossword puzzles in the Sunday supplement.He isn't satisfied until he gets it.Well,I certainly wanted to find the solution to my puzzle.I thought I was done with trading in bucket shops.But I was mistaken.

About a couple of months after I got back to New York an old jigger came into Fullerton's office.He knew A.R.Somebody said they'd once owned a string of race horses together.It was plain he'd seen better days.I was introduced to old McDevitt.He was telling the crowd about a bunch of Western race-track crooks who had just pulled off some skin game out in St.Louis.The head devil,he said,was a pool-room owner by the name of Teller.

“What Teller?”I asked him.

“Hi Teller;H.S.Teller.”

“I know that bird,”I said.

“He's no good,”said McDevitt.

“He's worse than that,”I said,“and I have a little matter to settle with him.”

“Meaning how?”

“The only way I can hit any of these short sports is through their pocketbook.I can't touch him in St.Louis just now,but some day I will.”And I told McDevitt my grievance.

“Well,”says old Mac,“he tried to connect here in New York and couldn't make it,so he's opened a place in Hoboken.The word's gone out that there is no limit to the play and that the house roll has got the Rock of Gibraltar faded to the shadow of a bantam flea.”

“What sort of a place?”I thought he meant pool room.

“Bucket shop,”said McDevitt.

“Are you sure it's open?”

“Yes;I've seen several fellows who've told me about it.”

“That's only hearsay,”I said.“Can you find out positively if it's running,and also how heavy they'll really let a man trade?”

“Sure,sonny,”said McDevitt.“I'll go myself tomorrow morning,and come back here and tell you.”

He did.It seems Teller was already doing a big business and would take all he could get.This was on a Friday.The market had been going up all that week—this was twenty years ago,remember—and it was a cinch the bank statement on Saturday would show a big decrease in the surplus reserve.That would give the conventional excuse to the big room traders to jump on the market and try to shake out some of the weak commission-house accounts.There would be the usual reactions in the last half hour of the trading,particularly in stocks in which the public had been the most active.Those,of course,also would be the very stocks that Teller's customers would be most heavily long of,and the shop might be glad to see some short selling in them.There is nothing so nice as catching the suckers both ways;and nothing so easy—with one-point margins.

That Saturday morning I chased over to Hoboken to the Teller place.They had fitted up a big customers' room with a dandy quotation board and a full force of clerks and a special policeman in gray.There were about twenty-five customers.

I got talking to the manager.He asked me what he could do for me and I told him nothing;that a fellow could make much more money at the track on account of the odds and the freedom to bet your whole roll and stand to win thousands in minutes instead of piking for chicken feed in stocks and having to wait days,perhaps.He began to tell me how much safer the stock-market game was,and how much some of their customers made—you'd have sworn it was a regular broker who actually bought and sold your stocks on the Exchange—and how if a man only traded heavy he could make enough to satisfy anybody.He must have thought I was headed for some pool room and he wanted a whack at my roll before the ponies nibbled it away,for he said I ought to hurry up as the market closed at twelve o'clock on Saturdays.That would leave me free to devote the entire afternoon to other pursuits.I might have a bigger roll to carry to the track with me—if I picked the right stocks.

I looked as if I didn't believe him,and he kept on buzzing me.I was watching the clock.At 11:15 I said,“All right,”and I began to give him selling orders in various stocks.I put up two thousand dollars in cash,and he was very glad to get it.He told me he thought I'd make a lot of money and hoped I'd come in often.

It happened just as I figured.The traders hammered the stocks in which they figured they would uncover the most stops,and,sure enough,prices slid off.I closed out my trades just before the rally of the last five minutes on the usual traders' covering.

There was fifty-one hundred dollars coming to me.I went to cash in.

“I am glad I dropped in,”I said to the manager,and gave him my tickets.

“Say,”he says to me,“I can't give you all of it.I wasn't looking for such a run.I'll have it here for you Monday morning,sure as blazes.”

“All right.But first I'll take all you have in the house,”I said.

“You've got to let me pay off the little fellows,”he said.“I'll give you back what you put up,and anything that's left.Wait till I cash the other tickets.”So I waited while he paid off the other winners.Oh,I knew my money was safe.Teller wouldn't welsh with the office doing such a good business.And if he did,what else could I do better than to take all he had then and there?I got my own two thousand dollars and about eight hundred dollars besides,which was all he had in the office.I told him I'd be there Monday morning.He swore the money would be waiting for me.

I got to Hoboken a little before twelve on Monday.I saw a fellow talking to the manager that I had seen in the St.Louis office the day Teller told me to go back to Dolan.I knew at once that the manager had telegraphed to the home office and they'd sent up one of their men to investigate the story.Crooks don't trust anybody.

“I came for the balance of my money,”I said to the manager.

“Is this the man?”asked the St.Louis chap.

“Yes,”said the manager,and took a bunch of yellow backs from his pocket.

“Hold on!”said the St.Louis fellow to him and then turns to me,“Say,Livingston,didn't we tell you we didn't want your business?”

“Give me my money first,”I said to the manager,and he forked over two thousands,four five-hundreds and three hundreds.

“What did you say?”I said to St.Louis.

“We told you we didn't want you to trade in our place.”

“Yes,”I said;“that's why I came.”

“Well,don't come any more.Keep away!”he snarled at me.The private policeman in gray came over,casual-like.St.Louis shook his fist at the manager and yelled:“You ought to've known better,you poor boob,than to let this guy get into you.He's Livingston.You had your orders.”

“Listen,you,”I said to the St.Louis man.“This isn't St.Louis.You can't pull off any trick here,like your boss did with Belfast Boy.”

“You keep away from this office!You can't trade here!”he yells.

“If I can't trade here nobody else is going to,”I told him.“You can't get away with that sort of stuff here.”

Well,St.Louis changed his tune at once.

“Look here,old boy,”he said,all fussed up,“do us a favor.Be reasonable !You know we can't stand this every day.The old man's going to hit the ceiling when he hears who it was.Have a heart,Livingston !”

“I'll go easy,”I promised.

“Listen to reason,won't you?For the love of Pete,keep away!Give us a chance to get a good start.We're new here.Will you?”

“I don't want any of this high-and-mighty business the next time I come,”I said,and left him talking to the manager at the rate of a million a minute.I'd got some money out of them for the way they treated me in St.Louis.There wasn't any sense in my getting hot or trying to close them up.I went back to Fullerton's office and told McDevitt what had happened.Then I told him that if it was agreeable to him I'd like to have him go to Teller's place and begin trading in twenty or thirty share lots,to get them used to him.Then,the moment I saw a good chance to clean up big,I'd telephone him and he could plunge.

I gave McDevitt a thousand dollars and he went to Hoboken and did as I told him.He got to be one of the regulars.Then one day when I thought I saw a break impending I slipped Mac the word and he sold all they'd let him.I cleared twenty-eight hundred dollars that day,after giving Mac his rake-off and paying expenses,and I suspect Mac put down a little bet of his own besides.Less than a month after that,Teller closed his Hoboken branch.The police got busy.And,anyhow,it didn't pay,though I only traded there twice.We ran into a crazy bull market when stocks didn't react enough to wipe out even the one-point margins,and,of course,all the customers were bulls and winning and pyramiding.No end of bucket shops busted all over the country.

Their game has changed.Trading in the old-fashioned bucket shop had some decided advantages over speculating in a reputable broker's office.For one thing,the automatic closing out of your trade when the margin reached the exhaustion point was the best kind of stop-loss order.You couldn't get stung for more than you had put up,and there was no danger of rotten execution of orders,and so on.In New York the shops never were as liberal with their patrons as I've heard they were in the West.Here they used to limit the possible profit on certain stocks of the football order to two points.Sugar and Tennessee Coal and Iron were among these.No matter if they moved ten points in ten minutes you could only make two on one ticket.They figured that otherwise the customer was getting too big odds;he stood to lose one dollar and to make ten.And then there were times when all the shops,including the biggest,refused to take orders on certain stocks.In 1900,on the day before Election Day,when it was a foregone conclusion that McKinley would win,not a shop in the land let its customers buy stocks.The election odds were 3 to 1 on McKinley.By buying stocks on Monday you stood to make from three to six points or more.A man could bet on Bryan and buy stocks and make sure money.The bucket shops refused orders that day.

If it hadn't been for their refusing to take my business I never would have stopped trading in them.And then I never would have learned that there was much more to the game of stock speculation than to play for fluctuations of a few points.

在柯斯莫斯普利坦公司阴险地用卑劣手段,向我设置3个点的保证金和1.5个点的溢价,而且都没办法引我上当后,就暗示我说不想再跟我交易了。于是没过多久,我就做出了去纽约的决定,我可以到纽交所会员的公司里继续玩。我之所以不想去波士顿,是因为在那里,股票行情报价也是通过电报机传达的,我想去的是报价的原始来源处。我带着2500美元,踏上了纽约的土地,那年我21岁。

我之前说过,20岁那年我就赚了人生中的第一个1万美元。我虽然在玩制糖公司股票的时候,光保证金就交过1万美元,但是我也不可能一直在赚钱。我玩股票的方式很精深,赚的钱肯定比亏损的多。我如果一直用那种方式玩股票,大概百分之七十的时候在赚钱。每次还没交易,我就知道我是对的,这时候我就稳赚不赔。我之所以有赔钱的时候,就是因为我没有一直用我的方式。也就是说,只有当股市的发展跟我的判断相符时,我再去买卖股票才好。做什么事情都得讲究时机,可是我当时没在意这个。华尔街上那些智力超群的投资者们之所以也会失败,原因也是这个。有些超级大笨蛋每一次都会做出错误选择。而华尔街上的那些笨蛋觉得,要持续不断地一直交易才行。就像没有谁每天都会去买卖股票一样,也没有谁具备每次交易都赚钱的智慧。

我就亲自证明了这个观点。我按照经验寻得交易良机的时候,就能稳赚;但当我在不合适的时候交易,就会赔钱。我不是例外,对吧?交易大厅里的大报价板上,显示着不断变化的股市行情。股民们都在交易的氛围中,手里的一张张成交单变成钱,或者变成了废纸。我的理智自然也受到了情绪影响。在对赌行,你那点保证金只是九牛一毛,不可能做长线交易,用不了几下就被清扫掉了。一次次的胡乱交易是华尔街的那些投资者本金屡屡受损的主要原因,就算是非常专业的投资人也难以逃脱。他们觉得每天都能赚钱回家,仿佛在做着一份固定工作一样。要知道,我当时只是个孩子,不明白我后来学到的那些东西。15年后,我通过那些经验走上了成功之道。15年后的我能蛰伏两周,寻觅到合适的股价,买一只股票,盯着它涨30点。后来,我也亏过些钱,我想过要重新赚回来,不过我要依照对的方式来,不能再轻易出击,我需要耐着性子等待。这是发生在1915年的一个冗长的故事,时机成熟后我会讲出来。现在,我们言归正传吧。我在对赌行玩了几年股票,赚了很多钱,但是最后我还是让它吞掉了我的大部分收入。

更何况,这事就清晰地发生在我眼皮底下。更有甚者,后来同样发生过类似的事情。玩股票的人,必须要打败很多东西,包括自己。无论如何,我揣着2500美元踏进了纽约。不过,我找不到一家值得信任的对赌行。纽交所和警察局管得很严,切断了对赌行的生财之道。

我要寻一个可以自由施展的交易场所,而我唯一的弱项就是财力不足。当时,我交易的数额比较小,可我不想这样下去。一开始玩股票,最重要的是要寻找一家有公平规则的经纪公司。所以我找到一家纽交所会员公司,那家公司原本在我家乡也有分店,分店里几个人是我认识的,不过他们已经倒闭很久了。不久后,因为很讨厌一个合伙人,我就离开了那里,转战到了富勒顿公司。我觉得肯定是有人向他们提到过我的过去,到那里没多长时间,他们就给我封了个“投机分子”的绰号。我貌似很年轻的长相,为我的工作带来了一些便利。但有大量的人看我年少无知,都想着要利用我一番,我就得学会自我保护。对赌行的小伙计们都以为我是个笨蛋,认为我能战胜他们只是因为我有绝佳的运气。

可是,还不到半年时间,我就输光了所有钱。我在股市上表现得很亢奋,也赢得了个不败的名气。我猜想自己曾经交纳过数目不菲的手续费,虽然赚了很多钱,但结果还是输给了股市。即使我处处小心,也还是难免功亏一篑,原因就是,我在对赌行里太成功了。

我只会利用我的那些方法,在对赌行里赚钱,冲着股价的涨跌买卖。我有很强的股市行情观察力,当我买股票的时候,价格就写在报价板明处,就算在买进之前,我也清楚要成交的股价。我总能寻机立马抛售股票,买卖做得很迅速,所以总能把握十足地玩转股票。买对的时候,我就加把劲儿;买错的时候,我就赶紧撤出来。比如,有时候,我能确定某只股票可以至少上升1个点,我不会特别贪心,我交上1个点的保证金,很快就能把本金翻上一番;要么我赚上0.5个点也行。每天玩个一二百股,持续一个月后,也还真是可以,对吧?

不过,就算对赌行有足够承担损失的资本,他们也不会坐以待毙。对赌行不喜欢总能赚到钱的那些人。

总而言之,在对赌行里玩的那些手段,在富勒顿公司就起不了多大作用,在这里,我需要正儿八经地买卖股票。比如,我觉得股价为105时制糖公司的股票会跌落3个点。其实当电报机上传来的股价是105时,交易所里的价格可能是104或者103。这个时候,我下单卖1000股,让富勒顿公司的人去执行时,股价可能变得更低。在我看到回报单之前,是不会知道到底以多少钱卖出了1000股的。这种活儿,如果在对赌行我就能赚3000美元,但是在股票交易所里,可能一毛钱都赚不到。当富勒顿公司的股市行情收报机迟钝地传回股价时,股票交易所的真实交易价格早就变了,我用老到过时的信息做着交易,却没有及时明白过来。

而且,我做大单子的时候,卖出去时会把交易所的市价压低,可在对赌行里,根本不用操心这一点。由于纽交所里股票游戏规则与对赌行完全不同,我亏了很多钱。这并不是说我到纽约正规的地方做正规的股票交易了就会亏钱,而是因为我对现实情况不了解。之前总说我的分析预测能力很强,可是这点小能力对我没多少益处。如果我属于交易所的场内人员,直接去买卖股票,效果可能会好得多。

反正,我就是没掌握炒股的全部技巧,只是学会了特别重要的一部分,而这部分在过去给了我很大的帮助。可是,当我懂得这些的时候,都竟然在亏损,更别提那些没一丁点经验的菜鸟了,他们更没什么赚钱的可能了。

很快,我发现我的方法不适合形势了,可我也不知道到底哪里出了问题。我按照我的方法玩,有时候也起作用,可有时候会遭受一连串的损失。别忘了,我才22岁,不是因为我自信到了不想纠错的地步,而是作为这个时段的年轻人,没有一个人懂得那么多事。

交易大厅的人都很友善。我不能任意胡为,也要考虑他们在保证金上的限制。老富勒顿和公司其他人都对我不错,六个月后,我不光赔了带来的所有钱,还倒欠了公司几百块。在他们眼中,我就是个孩子,刚开始出门,就磕碰得一塌糊涂。可我自己知道,这些都是因为我的炒股方法出了差错,而不是我个人的问题。无论我是否确实清醒,但我总让自己很冷静,没有怀疑过计价器上显示的那些股价。对市场生气根本起不到任何作用。我迫切地想继续展开炒股行动,一刻都不想再迟疑,于是只好去找老富勒顿,跟他说:“我说,富勒顿啊,再借我500美元吧。”

“干吗呀?”他这样问。

“我需要一些钱用啊。”

“到底干什么?”他又问了一遍。

“还不就是交保证金。”我答道。

“500?”他皱着眉头问,“你明白吧,要你交一成的保证金,100股,要交1000美元。把账记在这儿。”

“不是这样。”我说,“我不在这上面记,我已经欠了公司的钱。我是向你个人借500美元,请允许我赚了钱再回来。”

“你有什么打算?”老富勒顿问我。

“我去对赌行玩一把。”我对他说。

“就在这儿玩吧。”他说。

“不行啊,”我说,“在这里我没必胜的把握,只有在对赌行我才信心十足,在那儿我有我的玩法。我现在明白在这里我为什么会亏钱了。”

借了老富勒顿的钱后,我就离开了这家让我输得赤条条的地方。我不能回家乡,那里的对赌行都对我避之唯恐不及。纽约也不行,这座城市那时根本没有对赌行这样的行当。有人对我说,早先的时候,宽街和新街有很多这样的场所,但当我现在需要它们时,已经一家都没有了。考虑再三后,我决定去圣路易斯,据说那边有两家公司,在中西部生意做得很大,赚了很多钱,还在好多城市开了分号呢。其实,光看交易额,东部没有一家公司跟他们在一个档次上。他们对外公开营业,很多厉害角色都在那里交易股票。有人甚至对我说,那边有个公司的老板还是商会副会长。不管怎样,我带着借到的500美元去了那边,想着赚钱后再到富勒顿公司交保证金。

到达圣路易斯后,我先住下来梳洗了一番,就去大街上找对赌行了。我找到了那两家,杜兰公司和泰勒公司。我自信能够赢到钱,我要用绝对有把握绝对安全的方式去玩。我担心会被人认出来,然后被勒令不许交易,因为整个美国的对赌行都知道我这个“投机分子”的事情。他们和赌场是一样的,耳目非常灵通。

杜兰公司离得近些,所以我先从近处开始,争取在他们赶我之前能有几天时间玩一把。我走进阔气的交易大厅,看到了两百来人在那里紧盯着股票价格看。我感觉很惬意,有这么多人,我就不会轻易暴露。我看了一阵股价板,选好了今天要交易的第一只股票。

我环顾四周,看到窗边股民们交保证金和拿成交单的地方有值守的工作人员,他正看着我。我走过去问道:“这里是交易棉花和小麦期货的地方吗?”

“是的,哥们儿。”他答道。

“我可以买股票吧?”我问。

“有钱就可以啊。”他说。

“哦,有啊,不差钱。”我像个娃娃一样炫耀着。

“有吗?真有?”他笑了。

“100美元能买多少?”我假装生气了。

“100美元,100股。”

“我有100。哦,有200,200都有。”我说。

“呵,想不到啊。”他有些吃惊。

“给我来200股。”我迫切地说。

“买什么?”他认真起来,开始正常交谈。

我看着报价板,做出动脑筋的样子:“200股俄马哈公司吧。”

“没问题。”他说。收了钱后,他为我填好了成交单。

“姓名?”他问道。

我说:“霍拉斯·肯特。”

他把单子递了过来,我接过来后就去股民中间等股价。就这样闪电出击,做了好几把。第二天也顺利完成了交易,前后共赚了2800美元。我心中期待着能玩一周最好。按照这种频率和赚法,我一星期能赚到很多钱,完了再去其他地方,要是有一样好的运气的话,我就能够心满意足地打道回纽约了。

第三天清晨,我假装不好意思地走到窗口,准备买500股BRT公司时,那个工作人员对我说话了:“嗨,肯特先生,老板请你去聊聊。”

我清楚是事情出问题了,不过还是装出一无所知的样子问:“老板要跟我谈什么?”

“这个就不清楚了。”

“他在哪里?”

“在他办公室里,那边可以进去。”他指了一下门。

我进去后,老板杜兰从桌旁转身对我说:“坐吧,利文斯顿。”他朝一把椅子指了一下。

我心中一惊,希望顿时化为灰烬。我并不清楚他是怎么知道我是谁的,估计是在住处查到的吧。

“你找我干吗?”我问他。

“你听清楚,小子,我不是要阻止你,知道吗?我没有一点儿跟你作对的意思,清楚吗?”

“不清楚,我不清楚你什么意思。”我这样回答。

他从椅子上起身——嚯,好雄壮啊!他对我说:“你靠近点,利文斯顿。”说着,他走到门口,开门后指着交易大厅的人群问我,“看见了吗?”

“什么?”

“那些人啊。你看他们,小子,一共有300人!300个笨蛋!他们养活了我和我的家人,明白吗?300人!结果你就来了,用两天时间,把我花了两周从这些笨蛋身上赚到的钱给弄走了。这不是公平的生意啊,小子——别跟我来这套不公平的。我不难为你,你也该满意地刹车了。我不会再给你机会了,不会了。”

“为什么?我——”

“就这样吧。前两天我见你来了,就不喜欢你那样。总而言之,我讨厌你这人。我知道你是个厉害角色。我叫进来那个傻蛋……”说着,他指了一下那个一脸愧意的工作人员后继续说,“我向他问了你的交易情况,他告诉了我,我就正告他说:‘我很讨厌那个小子,他是个坑蒙拐骗的主儿!’那个傻蛋却说不可能,说你叫霍拉斯·肯特,是很实诚的一个好小伙儿,没什么问题。我这才随了他,而结果却是这个傻蛋害我损失了2800美元啊。我对你不小气吧,小子。但是,现在我的金库关闭了,你甭想再进来。”

“听我说——”我想继续解释。

“你听我说,利文斯顿,”他说,“我知道你是谁,我要赚能赚到的那些傻瓜的钱,你不属于这类人,我是个遵守规则的人,你从我这儿赚到的钱你尽管带走,但如果再让你赚下去,我就是个笨蛋了。我现在知道你了,你赶紧滚蛋,小子。”

我只好带着赚到的2800美元,从杜兰公司的交易大厅走出来。泰勒公司的交易大厅也在这条街上不远处,我知道泰勒也是富豪,有几家对赌行,我要去那里赚钱。我思考着,是要循序渐进,还是一步到位玩1000股,我可能只有一天的时间,他们一旦发现情形不对,就会吃一堑长一智,我就再不会有好处可捞了。我的确想买BRT公司的1000股,我相信能从中获利四五个点。可是,如果他们有所猜疑,同时其他股民也大量买进的话,他们可能会直接把我拒之门外。或者我应该循序渐进,分散交易比较好。

他们的交易大厅没有杜兰公司的大,不过装潢高级些,交易的人也很明显更有钱些。这对我而言再好不过了,于是我就决定直接买BRT公司的1000股。我选好一个窗口走过去,对工作人员说:“有限额吗?我要买1000股BRT公司。”

“没有限额。”他说,“只要钱够,多少都行。”

“那就1500股。”我边说边从口袋掏钱,里面的工作人员也开始给我填成交单。

这时候,我看见一个红头发的人把那个工作人员推到了一边,凑过来说:“嗨,利文斯顿,你去杜兰吧,我们这里不让你玩。”

“我先拿了成交单吧。”我说,“我已经买了点BRT。”

“不行,不会给你的。”他说。此时,很多工作人员都在盯着我看。“别再来这儿了,我们不允许你玩,明白了没?”

不管生气还是吵闹,都不会起作用,我只好悻悻离开。回到住处,我马上结账,搭乘上了回纽约的早班车。太不顺了,我原想能赚个盆满钵满,谁知道泰勒公司一点儿机会都不给我。

回到纽约后,我把500美元还给了富勒顿,用剩下的钱开始继续我的股票生意。有时候情况好些,有时候情况坏些,可我做得还可以,也赚了些钱。毕竟,我要改的地方不算多,我也明白以前那些炒股知识根本不够用。我像一个爱玩填字游戏的人一样,总要填完所有的缺口,不然不会罢休。我想搞明白炒股的秘诀。我以为再也不会有幸到对赌行玩了,谁承想不是这样。

在纽约过了几个月,有个认识富勒顿的老头来到富勒顿公司,有人说他们以前合伙买过赛马,显然他如今过的是富有的生活。通过介绍,我与这个叫麦德威的老头认识了,他向很多人说着西部马场的骗子们不久前在圣路易斯干过一票,领头人就是对赌行老板泰勒。

“哪个泰勒?”我问。

“就那个大高个泰勒。”

“我知道那个鸟人。”我说。

“他不是好人。”麦德威说。

“不止如此,”我说,“我跟他的账还没算完呢。”

“什么意思?”

“他不讲道德,我要在他的钱包上动心思来治他。他在圣路易斯,我没法动他,但我总有机会跟他算账的。”接着我把心中的苦恼说了出来。

“哦,”老麦德威说,“以前他想在纽约做什么,但是没做成,后来在哈博肯开了个分行,据说玩法没有限制,资金雄厚得都能让直布罗陀海峡的大礁石看起来像虱子一般。”

“什么性质的地方?”我以为他说的是赌场。

“是对赌行。”麦德威说。

“你确定那里已经开张了吗?”

“当然,我的好多老伙计都提到过。”

“道听途说可不行,”我说,“你可否查探清楚呢?还有,它有没有规定买卖限额?”

“好吧,小兄弟。”麦德威说,“明天我就去查访,回来给你讲。”

麦德威送来消息说,泰勒的生意的确做得很大,放开了门在赚钱。

那天是周五,那周股价一直在涨——要知道,那是二十年前——到了周六,银行余额报表上的数字必定会猛降,股票投机分子们也必定会放手去干,给弱不禁风的信托机构好好上一课。一般会在交易临近结束前半小时出现常规的反应,尤其是那些热门的股票,而那些也正好就是泰勒的顾客们最青睐的,对赌行自然是最希望看到有人做空了。哪里还有比两头都大赚更让人兴奋的事呢,而且要做起来也不难——因为散户们交的保证金只有1个点。

周六早晨,我赶到了位于哈博肯的泰勒的对赌行。交易大厅很大,还挂着吸引人的报价牌,有很多负责交易的工作人员和穿着灰色制服的保安人员,股民大概有二十五个。

我找到经理谈了谈,他很愿意为我效劳,我不让他做任何事情,只让他知道,只有在赛马场上才能不知不觉地几分钟就赚很多钱,我根本不会对可能要等上几天的零零散散的股票交易感兴趣。听我这么说,他就赶紧劝我,让我相信炒股的安全性比较高,他们的顾客赚了很多钱——你肯定觉得他是一个最普通的股票经纪人,能为你做股票买卖的事情——他还忽悠说只要买卖做大,就会赚很多钱。他肯定觉得我就是来炒股的,非常想拉我入圈套,以便狠赚一把,他根本不想让到了嘴边的肉不翼而飞。他还说,我必须要抓住机会,周六十二点就会收盘了,搞定后下午还可以去处理其他事情,要是能选对股票,就可以赚很多的钱带到跑马场去。

我故意表现出半信半疑的神态,让他一直劝我,我瞅着挂钟,到十一点一刻时,我才答应了他。然后,我给了他几只股票的卖出委托单,投进了2000美元,他得意地收了钱,还说我一定能大赚,希望我可以经常来玩。

后续事情的发展都不出我所料,很多交易商打压股票价格,股价开始明显下降。在最后五分钟股价回升前,我把之前卖空的股票平仓,赚了5100美元,然后去兑换现金。

“能遇到这个机会真让人开心。”我把单子递给经理时说。

“唉”,他说,“你不能全部兑现,这出乎我的意料了。我周一上午会准备好钱等你来拿,保证没有问题。”

“好,但是我要先拿走你们公司手上所有的钱。”我说。

“我还得给其他散户付钱,”他说,“我今天会把你的本钱先还你,还有我付完其他单子后剩下来全部的钱。”所以我等他付钱给其他客户。噢,我知道我一定能拿到我的钱,泰勒一定不会赖账。这家公司生意很好,而且就算他赖账,我除了拿走这里所有的钱之外,还能有什么办法呢?我拿到了2800美元。我告诉他,星期一早上我还会来。他保证把钱给我。

周一那天十二点前,我到了哈博肯,有一个人正在跟那个经理聊天。泰勒赶我走的那次,我在圣路易斯见过这个人。我马上就明白了,那个经理跟他们公司总部说了这件事,这个人就被派来查看了。骗子是从来不会相信别人的。

“我过来取我赚的钱。”我对那个经理说。

“他就是那个人?”来自圣路易斯的那个家伙问。

“是。”经理边回答边拿出了一沓钱。

“先别。”那个家伙对经理喊道,然后冲我说:“利文斯顿,你忘了我们曾经说过不跟你玩吗?”

“先把钱给我。”我对经理说,他极不情愿地拿出两张1000美元、四张500美元、三张100美元的钞票。

“你说什么?”收好钱后,我才问那个人。

“我们告诉过你不让你在我们公司玩股票。”

“对啊。”我说,“我就是为这才过来的呢。”

“以后不要再来,给我滚远点。”他大吼起来。穿着灰色制服的保安听到后,故作轻松地走过来看。圣路易斯来的那人挥起拳头对经理大叫:“你早干吗去了,也不知道了解清楚,做了这么愚蠢的事情,他来诈骗你来了,他是利文斯顿,总部早就给你发过通知!”

“你听好,”我对来自圣路易斯的那人说,“这儿又不是圣路易斯,你不能耍什么花样,像你们老板对待‘贝尔法斯特小伙子’那样对待我。”

“滚蛋,这里不让你做交易。”他冲我喊。

“如果不让我做,其他人也不会来。”我对他说,“你不要耍花样骗人。”

那人听我这么说,马上改变口气。“小兄弟,”他有些惊慌失措地说,“求您了,帮帮忙,讲讲道理啊,我们不能每天遇到这样的事。要是老板知道了,会气个半死。您就发发慈悲吧,利文斯顿先生!”

“那就到此为止吧。”我做出了承诺。

“请您发发慈悲,走吧。给我们一个机会,让我们从头开始,我们才刚开业,好吗?”

“下一次我过来的时候,你们不要这样对我耍横。”说完我头也不回地走了,背后传来那人对经理的各种训斥。他们在圣路易斯对我耍横,我才这么对他们,也没必要再得理不饶人把事情搞大了。回到富勒顿公司后,我把事情讲给麦德威听。我告诉他说,如果愿意的话,请他去泰勒的对赌行玩上个20到30股,给他们留个印象;我如果有了赚大钱的机会,就给他打电话,他可以大赌一场。

我给了麦德威1000美元,他就去了哈博肯,按照我的吩咐去玩,没多长时间就成了熟客。后来有一天,我想我看出价格即将崩跌,就偷偷告诉了麦德威,他按照限额放空了股票。这一次,除去给麦德威的酬劳外,我还赚到了2800美元,而且,说不定麦德威还自己偷偷加了一些钱去赌呢。没过一个月,泰勒设在哈博肯的分行就倒闭了。警察开始忙起来了。总而言之,虽然我只交易过两次,但这家公司并没有收回成本。猛烈的牛市来了,股价跌落的点数特别小,也就1个点,股民们不会被轻易洗掉,所有人都在做多头,赚了很多钱。全国大量的对赌行只能纷纷关闭。

游戏已经发生了变化。在传统的对赌行里玩股票,比在有名的股票经纪人办公室玩股票容易赚钱得多。例如,你的保证金亏损后账户会被自动清理掉,这就能防止继续遭受损失。在股票交易所里,当有的股票走势不利于你的时候,你不能立马做出反应,就会损失惨重。在纽约,对赌行对待股民很严苛,根本没有我在西部时所听闻的那样大方。他们经常会把受关注度比较高的股票盈利点限定在2个点以内,比如糖业公司和田纳西煤铁公司的股票,就算这些股票几分钟涨了10个点,你一张成交单只能赚2个点。他们认为,如果不这样,股民会赚太多钱,股民亏了1个点就可能赚到10个点。有那么一段时间,包括最大的对赌行在内的所有交易场所,都拒绝股民购买某些股票。在1900年大选的前一天,人们都觉得麦金莱当选总统已成定局,所以纽约的所有对赌行都暂停了股票交易。麦金莱被人们以三比一的概率看好,如果周一买了股票,你就会多赚3到6个点,还可能更多。你可以买进股票赌麦金莱,保证会赚钱,可是那一天对赌行全天拒绝交易。

如果不是他们不让我在对赌行玩,我就会一直在对赌行这么玩下去,也就意味着我只能瞅准那点上下小跳的行情,赚个蝇头小利,根本不可能学到更多的炒股技巧了。

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