Cornering the market


Cornering the market

Purchasing a security or commodity in such volume as to achieve control over its price. An illegal practice.

Corner a Market

1. To own a significant enough amount of a stock to be able to manipulate its price. More specifically, an investor corners a market when he/she owns so many shares in a company that he/she can trigger a sell off if he/she dumps the stock. For this reason, persons and institutions owning or buying more than a certain percentage of shares in a company must register with the SEC and are subject to certain restrictions.

2. To have the greatest market share in a particular industry without having a monopoly. Companies that have cornered their markets usually have greater leeway in their decisions; for example, they may charge higher prices for their products without fear of losing too much business. Large companies, such as Wal-Mart or Microsoft, are considered to have cornered their markets. See also: Gorilla.

Cornering the market.

If someone tries to buy up as much of a particular investment as possible in order to control its price, that investor is trying to corner the market.

Not only is it difficult to make this strategy work in a complex economic environment, but the practice is illegal in US markets.

cornering the market

an attempt to buy up all the supplies of a particular commodity in order to exploit the market by charging high prices.