Jobber

A jobber is a person or company that buys and sells stocks, bonds, or other securities on a regular basis. They are not a broker, who acts as an intermediary between buyers and sellers, but rather a trader who takes on the risk of owning the securities themselves.

Jobbers play an important role in the financial markets by providing liquidity and price discovery. They help to ensure that there are always buyers and sellers for securities, and they help to set the prices at which those securities trade.

There are two main types of jobbers: market makers and specialists. Market makers are jobbers who make a market in a particular security by quoting both a bid and an ask price. The bid price is the price at which they are willing to buy the security, and the ask price is the price at which they are willing to sell it. Specialists are jobbers who are assigned to a particular stock or bond on a stock exchange. They are responsible for maintaining a fair and orderly market in that security, and they may also act as a dealer by buying and selling the security for their own account.

Jobbers can be either individuals or firms. They typically have a large amount of capital at their disposal, and they use this capital to take on the risk of owning securities. They also have a team of analysts who research securities and make recommendations on which ones to buy and sell.

Jobbers can earn a significant amount of money, but they also face a high level of risk. The prices of securities can fluctuate wildly, and jobbers can lose money if they buy securities at too high a price or sell them at too low a price.

Jobbers play an important role in the financial markets, but they are not without their critics. Some people argue that jobbers make the markets less efficient by taking on too much risk and by artificially inflating the prices of securities. Others argue that jobbers are necessary to provide liquidity and price discovery in the markets.

The debate over the role of jobbers in the financial markets is likely to continue for some time. However, there is no doubt that jobbers play an important role in the smooth functioning of the markets.