Bobtail pool. A Wall Street colloquialism. The term is applied to an informal pool in a stock. For
instance, four or five speculators may agree to buy (if it is a bull pool) 1,000 or 2,000 or 5,000
shares each of a certain stock in expectation of an advance in the price and to stimulate an
advance in the price and each usually is allowed to suit his pleasure in selling his stock.

In a formal pool the members appoint a manager who buys the stock for the account of all and
likewise sells the stock for the account of all. The individual members have no hand in either
buying or selling.
There are bear pools as well as bull pools. In a bear pool the stock is sold short in expectation of
and for the purpose of facilitating a decline in the price. When the price has declined the stock is
bought.