The Spanish-speaking people in the stock exchange call them "chupeteros" , keen watchers of price movements or trends in the market . They are the "vultures" whose eyes are glued to their computers for all the trading hours everyday. They are also considered "suckers" or vampires eking out whatever gains they can take from trading.

They watch stocks which hardly move but they get enough vibes to sense when they will move. They keep their eyes open, their ears on the ground.

They trade in the millions of pesos worth of stocks but they hardly sit on what they buy in any single day. In fact, they can buy and sell the same issue two or three times in one trading day.

Every time they see a small spread or profits that will leave them something after paying the transfer tax of one-fourth of one percent, they sell out for a very small gain. Thus, a percentage point profit after the transfer tax leaves them a net of .75 per cent. But that can happen in minutes or within one trading day.

It is a low-margin, high volume, full-time business. But there is big money in trading the "basuras" or garbage of issues that some people are able to move up to a certain point.

The "chupeteros" are always one or two steps ahead of the market. They do not wait for a killing. They know it won’t come. They also know that somebody or some group they do not know are moving issues and have a target. They never know what the target is. They make money taking small profits and buying or selling in the wink of an eye.

For as long as something is left after paying the transfer tax, they sell out and come back if they feel coming back will give them as much or a little less.

Some of them have investments in the hundreds of millions of pesos. They hardly ever go through losses but they never make a pile in just one or two issues. The "chupeteros" have a basket of issues in their portfolio. They spread the risks thinly over a big number of issues. Most of them work for stock brokerage firms.

The volume and value of sales of "chupeteros" is hardly reflected in the day’s total transactions. But they are in big business. Losses do happen but they are cut before they hurt the pocket book.

The basic requirement to become a successful "chupetero" or "garbage" trader is having some inside information from friends and at the same time keeping their ears on the ground.

They have been in the market for as long as anybody can remember but none of them is known to have lost his shirt or even bet a burnt finger. They are the smartest investors in the stock market. Most of them are unheard and unseen. They operate in their homes with their computers.