Bucket Shop
A dodgy firm that takes customer orders but never sends them to a real market, effectively betting…
In plain English
A dodgy firm that takes customer orders but never sends them to a real market, effectively betting against its own clients.
A bucket shop 'tosses your order in the bucket'. It takes your money and your trade but never executes anything in the real market. It simply books your bet against its own, and profits when you lose.
They were common, and later outlawed, in early 20th-century America. The word now describes any unregulated outfit with rigged prices or no real execution. Check a broker's licence before you deposit.
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