Trading sardines

Just for amusement while the traders play their games. On treating stocks as just a number and a line on a chart and not a holding in an underlying business. In this case the story is about trading prices beyond underlying value, but the reverse could also have a similar story written for it:

A long time ago, in a faraway land, (probably Iceland) the great sardine rush was underway. Everyone was making money from buying and selling sardines. Policemen, nurses and even bricklayers had given up their day jobs to concentrate on sardine trading. One day, in the middle of the great sardine rush, a young trader who had built up a position of 25 tonnes of sardines called up his broker and asked if they could meet down at the sardine warehouse. When they met, the broker unlocked the doors, and the young trader went inside to admire his mountain of sardines.
As he perched atop a box of the tasty morsels, he pulled a can out of a nearby box, and ripped open the lid. The foulest odour came out. They were rotten. Another box – the same result. All of his sardines were rotten! He turned to his broker and asked what he was supposed to do with 25 tonnes of rotten sardines! The broker, unaffected by the situation simply said to him, “Son, these sardines are for trading, they’re not for eating”.

And, so ended the lesson on assets which reach a point where trading rather than eating becomes the purpose. The broker made his point that with some assets you don’t want to be the bunny left holding the baby when the music stops.

There are many variants of the story. This one is from: http://quillgroup.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/these-sardines-are-for-trading/