The year was 1969; I remember it like it was yesterday. The Vietnam War was in full swing, the United States put men on the moon and Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi was put into power after a coup in Libya. It was around the time that al-Gaddafi came to power that I began to take interest in the rise of nickel prices. As an Australian born, I didn’t pay much attention to the Vietnam War. It was in the headlines, so I couldn’t just ignore it; but it was noise—the daily drivel of the happenings in a land north west of us. As a speculator, however, I couldn’t help but notice what the war was doing to the price of nickel. The large demand coming out of the United States was overwhelming the supply. The mines were unable to keep up.

In early September a little known company by the name of Poseidon NI came out with news that they had struck nickel in their mines. At the time, Poseidon was trading at around fifty cents. I didn’t make much of the story at first. Lots of mining companies were constantly coming out with stories of how they struck gold. However, when the news came out the price of Poseidon jumped up to $.80 cents. Now it had my attention. I continued to watch Poseidon closely over the next week, it kept going up. I watched it break over $1.00, then $1.50 trading over 300% where it was when the news was discovered. Other than their original press release, no new information had come to the surface. I didn’t know how much nickel they had found or whether it had been confirmed. All I knew was that the price was moving up. By late September, around the 23^rd or so, Poseidon had risen in price to around $3. It was range bound between $2.80 and $3.00—still, no new had come out. It traded between $2.80 and $3.00 for the rest of the week. On Friday, the 28th, volume started pouring in early in the morning. It quickly moved from $2.80 to $3.00 as it had every morning, but instead of bouncing off of three and trading in the range it stayed right at $3.00. People were hitting the $3.00 ask.  I decided that this must be insiders. Certainly they know how much nickel they’ve gotten, so I decided that as soon as it broke $3, I would jump in. I got on the phone to my broker, Ted Wellington over in Sidney. My heart began racing the last quote I saw on the tape was $3.00, I knew it couldn’t stay there forever. By the time Ted answered, I didn’t even wait for him to greet me I just blurted out, “Ted, my good man, what do you show for Poseidon NI company?”

“Well, Frank,” He said, a slight fizzle in the line, “Let me just check on that for you.”

“No time,” I said, “Put in an order for 5,000 shares. And let me know what it goes through at.”

“Alright. 5,000 shares for PNI at the market?”

“At the market.” I said. He hung up the phone. He always called me back when he we through putting in orders for me. I waited at my phone—a direct line to Wellington’s office. I nervously sat in my chair bent over just staring at the phone. I knew watching it wouldn’t make it ring any sooner, but I couldn’t help myself. My tape hadn’t sent any new quotes through, so I had no idea. The phone started shaking, the ringing hitting my ears. I quickly jumped up and snatched the phone from the receiver. “What’d we get, Wellington?” I demanded quickly. I knew I could be rude at times. “Now slow down there, Frank, I got you 2,000 shares so far at $3 even. The other 3,000 shares filled all over the place. I have 500 at $3.05; A thousand at $3.08; another thousand at $3.15, and the final $500 at $3.25. That puts you at 5,000 shares at an average of $3.076 per share.” Oh man, I thought to myself, supply is drying up. I immediately told Mr. Wellington to put me in for another 10,000 shares at the market. Clearly he realized what was happening because he responded, “But the supply is drying up, a market order for ten thousand will surly buy up every order below $4.00.”

“I don’t care if I take out all the offers up to $5. Just put in the order and get me the shares.” I said and hung up the phone. Ordinarily hanging up the phone is considered rude, but between Ted and me, it was considered business. There would be time for friendliness later. We were long time friends and would no doubt see each other at parties in Sydney later. I went back to my desk and logged my trades; having gotten in the habit of keeping a record of my own trades. A habit I learned from the famous Jessie Livermore. About an hour later I heard the phone ringing. I picked it up, “What’d we get?”

“Well Frank,” he returned, “we didn’t quite bid it up to $4, but we did push it all the way to 3½. I got the first 5,000 shares at $3.25, then another thousand at $3.30, and the remaining 4,000 at $3.50. That brings you to 15,000 shares at just a smidge over three and a quarter.” I looked at my clock still another three hours in the session. I decided to give it a rest and watch for a while to see how the price reacted to my bidding it up. I took a nap. I woke up an hour later when my wife came into my office with tea. I took a sip and walked over to my quote machine. I looked at the tape searching for the most recent Poseidon quote. I found it: ‘PNI 300 3.85’. Clearly the buying hadn’t stopped, I went over to my phone quickly picked it up and waited for Ted to answer, “What can I do for ya, Frank?” he said from the other side of the line. “I want you to buy up everything you can get below $4¼.”

“Alright, I’ll send that in to our broker on the floor.” He replied and hung up with only two hours left until the close. Ted called me every so often with updates and by the end of the day I had accumulated 50,000 shares of Poseidon NI at an average price of $3¾. I was restless that night. My wife thought I was going mad—distracted. I was distracted. I had to know why Poseidon was being bid up, after dinner I went into my study to research. No news; Just a whole lot of volume and rising price.

The next morning, Saturday, I went about my routine Saturday chores around the house. I made the rounds checking in on the stables to see how the horses were coming along. Several were ready for the races the trainer informed me. Around lunchtime I went back inside—eager to read the papers. I read through them looking for any information on nickel or Poseidon NI Company. Nothing.  “There’s got to be something!” I shouted pounding my fist on the table. My children came in for lunch after I finished reading the paper and my wife brought food to the table. We ate and I tried to put Poseidon NI out of my mind for the rest of the day. I was able, though it was rather difficult. On Sunday, I went to church in the morning and enjoyed my day with my family leaving Poseidon in the back of my mind. After dinner, I withdrew into my study as I did every Sunday night to read the paper and prepare myself for next week. I reviewed the lines I had out and then read the paper. Finally, news from Poseidon. The headlines read, “No more shortage?” The story went onto talk about how Poseidon was going to take up the slack after the Canadian Inco company had gone on strike to cause the major part of the shortage. My phone rang. Ted never calls on a Sunday. I thought to myself looking at the phone. I answered, it must be important. Ted sounded excited, “Franky, Franky, have you heard some of these rumors!?”

“What rumors?” I questioned

“About Poseidon NI company. Apparently the nickel they struck is enough to fill the void in supply from Inco. Investors from all over the world want to get in on this.”

“That’s great news, Teddy!”

“Well? Do you want me to sell on Monday? You do like to buy the rumor sell the news.” Ted said trying to be helpful. He always enjoyed trying to help out in the trading, but I constantly reminded him to leave the orders to me.

“No,” I responded, “This is new news. The international investors haven’t had time to get in. Let’s watch it for a while. I’ll call you went I want to sell.”

The next day, I sat at my quote machine watching for the first quote of Poseidon to come across. Not more than 15 minutes after the open I saw a quote come across: ‘PNI 4000 5.25’. I kept watching, I knew I was getting the first symptoms of tickerites, but I had to see where it went next. I had to know whether I should sell or buy more. About 20 minutes later I saw another quote: ‘PNI 500 5.63’. I went to the phone, “Ted, how much volume has traded on Poseidon?” A few seconds later he informed me that over 300,000 shares had already traded within the thirty minutes of trading. “Put in an order for 50,000 shares at the market.” I could hear the disbelief in his silence. “You hear me, Ted?” I asked.

“Yeah, I heard you. Are you serious? It’s up over 1000% from where it was trading no more than a month ago. You really want to buy up here.”

“Yes, and call me back when you finish the order. I have a feeling I’ll want more.”

An hour later the phone rang, “What are we at?” I asked.

“I got you another 50,000 shares at an average of $6.25.”

“What did the last shares trade through at?” I asked.

“My man on the floor got the last lot of 2,000 shares at 6.45.”

“Get me 100,000 more.” I said hanging up the phone, hungry for more shares. I went about my day, watching for new developments in the market; checking in on the price of Poseidon from time to time. Around noon I noticed the tape: ‘PNI 20,000 7.50’. A few minutes later I got a call, “We got your shares,” Wellington said, “The average price of the new lot is 6.75. That puts your 200,000 shares at an average price of just under $6.” I thanked him and hung up. The Poseidon NI company closed at 8¼ that Monday. I knew I was on the right side. Just last week it had traded at $3. I even got my first lot at $3. Now it closed at $8.25 and I didn’t care. I could already tell, it was a bubble in the making. But as long as I got out before it popped I would be safe. The next morning, Tuesday, the First of October, Poseidon opened up at $12. More than double my average. But it was a bubble, and one that I had identified early.

By mid November Poseidon was trading at $50. My line of 200,000 shares that I bought for $1.2 million was now worth around $2.5 million. Not one to be greedy I decided to sell a quarter of my shares. I was no riding the bubble on the houses money. By January of 1970, I decided to sell out. I had ridden the bubble long enough and it was showing signs of popping. I sold out my remaining 150,000 shares for a total of $32,250,000 minus commissions (which did, I’ll admit, add up to quite a sum).  Poseidon peaked in February at a price of just over $280, but I didn’t care. By this point the bubble was obvious. People were chasing up every ticker associated with mining or nickel. They were chasing up tickers that didn’t even have a mine—or a company for that matter.  I checked back on Poseidon years later. Turns out it had delisted in ’76. I had had my run. I had ridden my bubble. I had made my profits; I would later pay my dues riding down the gold bubble. But that’s a story for another day.

-Frank White