On Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 9:08 AM, Matthew Smith<chedders...@gmail.com> wrote: > Ok, so it looks like I would have to pay 4.44 a share to buy? And if I wanted > to sell, I would only get 3.01 a share? It seems like the stock would have to > go up quite a bit before I even broke even. Is that correct?
Typically you can put in a buy order to buy it when it hits the number you want, which it may or may not ever reach. The stock market isn't a set of "prices" like you'd see on a store shelf. It's more like an auction where you (and a buncha other people) are bidding on an item, and someone else (and a buncha other people) are barking out prices they are willing to sell something for. Only when two individuals meet on price will a transaction occur. ...and just because someone offers a price that matches yours doesn't mean you will be the one who gets it. The "price" you see on the news is just the last price two parties agreed on. There were a buncha transactions before that, and they all probably had different prices. So you can usually say "attempt to buy this stock when and if it reaches $3.46". But the parties offering to sell the stock may keep going up in price and you never have an opportunity to buy at $3.46. The same goes when you want to sell it. You may see on TV that the stock was "at" $5.34 at closing, but that doesn't necessarily mean you can find someone to sell it to at $5.34. You can say "attempt to sell this stock to someone at $5.34", but there may or may not be any buyers at that price. Just because someone bought/sold it for one price yesterday, or an hour ago, or one millisecond ago - that doesn't mean you can get that same price. Even one millisecond later. -Came ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:298394 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
