DAISY CHAIN°

noun and verb (Business World) noun: In financial jargon, a string of buyers who concentrate their dealings on a particular stock in order to raise its price artificially. transitive verb: To raise (prices) artificially in this way. Etymology: A specialized use of the figurative sense of daisy chain, which has been used as a noun since the middle of the last century to refer to any linking together of people or things in the fashion of a real daisy chain. History and Usage: A practice which began with strings of traders in crude oil who bought and sold to each other on paper in the seventies, the daisy chain became a shady and only semi-legal activity on the wider market in the mid eighties. The conspirators make a show of activity in their chosen market, thereby pushing up the price and attracting unsuspecting investors. They then pull out, leaving the new investors with overpriced stock. Most countries have tried to curb the practice legally. They have been buying crude from resellers who illegally inflated the prices and supplying products to brokers whose only function was to 'daisy chain' the prices. Washington Post 31 May 1979, section A, p. 11 Can order be brought to the daisy chain market? The Times 19 Feb. 1986, p. 17 Lincoln traded junk bonds with other daisy chain members at 'artificial and escalating prices so that both parties could recognize artificial and improper profits', the suit said. Los Angeles Times (Orange County edition) 10 Feb. 1990, section D, p. 11