What is the difference between broker and jobbers?

Answer 1

A broker is a retailer of stocks and shares. His customers are investors, whether Gargantuan Insurance or Jane Doe.

A jobber is a wholesaler of stocks and shares. His customers are brokers.

Answer 2

* A stock broker buys and sells shares on behalf of clients. Say you want 1,000 shares of stock in XYZ Corp. You place your order through a brokerage, which then acts as your agent in locating a seller and obtaining the shares. You then typically pay a commission for the broker's services. The commission may be a percentage of the price you paid for the stock, or, as is common with online and discount brokerages, it could be a flat fee per trade, regardless of the size of your order.

* "Jobber" is a British term for what in the United States is commonly called a "market maker." This is someone who maintains an inventory of shares in order to make trades possible. When you place your order for 1,000 shares of XYZ Corp., your broker doesn't have to call around trying to find someone with 1,000 shares to sell. Instead, he can simply go to a market maker, who keeps an inventory of XYZ stock, and buy the shares there. Likewise, if you decide you want to sell those 1,000 shares, your broker can sell them to the market maker. Jobbers typically post two prices for a stock: what they'll buy it for and what they'll sell it for. The sell price will be slightly higher, which is how jobbers make their money.