 In a form of what is now considered illegal front running and self-dealing, a bucket shop holding a large position on a stock, and knowing a client's vulnerable margin, might sell the stock on the real stock exchange, causing the price on the ticker tape to momentarily move down enough to exhaust the client's margins.Through its opportunistic actions, the bucket shop thereby gains 100% of the client's investment.The term "bucket shop" came to apply to other types of scams, some of which are still practiced.