Share trading costs

[xrapidx]

alf...where did your post go :-/

 

[Jehosefat]

The price of a share that you see on the screen is the last traded price afaik (possibly 15 minutes delayed) but it is not the price that you will necessarily be able to buy or sell at. You have to specify the price that you want to trade at. Obviously if you want to buy too low no-one will sell to you and if you want to sell too high, no-one will want to buy from you.

As far as the Order details go, when you put in a buy order, thats exactly what it is, its just an order and it will only be filled if there is someone willing to sell to you at that price. Order details allow you to specify how long your order will stay open if it is not filled. So Good for Day means that your order will be cancelled if it has not been filled by the end of the day, Good until date is the same thing but with a specified date and good until cancel means it will remain open indefinitely until you cancel it.

 

[xrapidx]

Thanks... so trading is basically bargaining in a specific price range for shares.

and I'm assuming if no one takes you up on your offer - you arn't charged the various fee's?

 

[Alton Turner Blackwood]

Thanks... so trading is basically bargaining in a specific price range for shares.

and I'm assuming if no one takes you up on your offer - you arn't charged the various fee's?

Correct. There are the odd chance however where you will be stuck with a ****ty share that nobody wants, but its all part of the fun

 

[supersunbird]

There was thing on 702 for a guy who got 2 shares in something, he had wanted 300 shares. Only two shares were available at his set price. Was charged full broker fee for the 2 shares he got at that price.

 

[xrapidx]

Think I get it... so I take it you should make double sure you haven't put in some terribly wrong value that could end up raping you

Guess I'll know in a month or so if I get it right.... maybe I should buy a few for a few rand just to make sure I got the process down before dropping R20,000

 

[xrapidx]

There was thing on 702 for a guy who got 2 shares in something, he had wanted 300 shares. Only two shares were available at his set price. Was charged full broker fee for the 2 shares he got at that price.

Interesting - if you put in that you want 300 shares at x price, shouldn't that be what you get? Not 2 shares at x price?

 

[Alton Turner Blackwood]

There was thing on 702 for a guy who got 2 shares in something, he had wanted 300 shares. Only two shares were available at his set price. Was charged full broker fee for the 2 shares he got at that price.

Is that even legal? Its never happened to me before though.

When you tell your broker to buy 300 it means you want 300! If he can only get two, the correct thing to do is sell it again at the end of your trade life period. He couldn't get you your 300, so he doesn't get paid. End of story

 

[AlmightyBender]

Interesting - if you put in that you want 300 shares at x price, shouldn't that be what you get? Not 2 shares at x price?

Well there has to be somebody willing to sell you 300 at x price in the first place. It's like going to the bakery and asking for 6 buns, but they only have two left.

 

[Jehosefat]

Is that even legal? Its never happened to me before though.

When you tell your broker to buy 300 it means you want 300! If he can only get two, the correct thing to do is sell it again at the end of your trade life period. He couldn't get you your 300, so he doesn't get paid. End of story

There are normally options regarding how the order is to be filled. Can't remember what they are called but the first is that (in the case of buying shares) the cheapest offer is bought first, then, if the order was for more shares than were offered, the next cheapest offer is bought etc. until the order is filled or there are no offers below the specified price. The other method is that the first offer that is both below the price and large enough to fill the order is taken.

In the first case, if the order is filled, the price paid can be lower than the second method but you also might end up with a partially filled order. In the second case, the price may be slightly worse than in the first case but the order will either be completely filled or not executed at all.

 

[Alton Turner Blackwood]

There are normally options regarding how the order is to be filled. Can't remember what they are called but the first is that (in the case of buying shares) the cheapest offer is bought first, then, if the order was for more shares than were offered, the next cheapest offer is bought etc. until the order is filled or there are no offers below the specified price. The other method is that the first offer that is both below the price and large enough to fill the order is taken.

In the first case, if the order is filled, the price paid can be lower than the second method but you also might end up with a partially filled order. In the second case, the price may be slightly worse than in the first case but the order will either be completely filled or not executed at all.

When you request a buy or a sell, you need to indicate if you want to trade at market value or a fixed amount.

In a buy, the last trade price is the "cheapest" offer (as you put it). Therefore it is the trade price. No broker will buy "the next cheapest share", because then he's not following your instructions.

 

[xrapidx]

Is there a minumum amount you can trade, or is site/broker specific?

 

[Alton Turner Blackwood]

Is there a minumum amount you can trade, or is site/broker specific?

There's no minimum amount, but lets face it buying one share at R5, then having to pay all the other fees to have the trade executed and then ending up with a total amount of R150 isn't the most cost effective thing to do, now is it?

So in short, you decide how many of a company's shares you want

 

[xrapidx]

Yeh... just wondering because I don't want to make a mistake with a large amount... will probably try R1000 once or twice before going big.

I plan on building up around R20k before putting it down on something each time (so don't want to mess up with R20k in one go)

 

[Jehosefat]

When you request a buy or a sell, you need to indicate if you want to trade at market value or a fixed amount.

In a buy, the last trade price is the "cheapest" offer (as you put it). Therefore it is the trade price. No broker will buy "the next cheapest share", because then he's not following your instructions.

Trading at market means that the broker will take any offers in the market at that time. Usually the cheapest offer if he's buying and the most expensive if he's selling.

The last trade price is just the last trade price. He can't buy shares for you at the last trade price if there are no more on offer at that price. He can only buy shares that are for sale at the price they are being sold at. That's why you should specify a price so he will only buy shares if he can find them for less than that amount.

A quick example. Lets assume that:

• You want to buy 1000 shares
• At no more than 50c per share
• Last trade price was 47c
• There are 300 shares on offer at 47c
• 200 at 48c
• 400 at 49c
• 1000 at 50c

In this case, sure, he gets you your first 300 shares at the last trade price but he cannot get any more at that price. Thus to fill your order he has to buy the 200 at 48c, the 400 at 49c and the remaining 100 to complete the order at 50c. (Or just the full 1000 at 50c depending on the instruction). Its literally not possible for him to fill your order at 47c even though it was the last traded price. That would be trading at market price with a limit. Trading at a specific value would put an offer to buy that quantity of shares at that price into the market which would be filled by the same process as above (just the other way around).

 

[xrapidx]

Reading the above, if I put an order in the form for 1000 at 50c - will I then pay less if less are available, or 1000 at 50c (even if cheaper options are available)

I don't see an option of specifying trade type?

 

[Neo_X]

guess you probably then noticed this competition?
http://www.investorchallenge.co.za/


could give you some nice pointers as wel...

 

[xrapidx]

Can someone explain to me what this screen is all about, is it whats available to buy/sell?

 

[hellfire]

Can someone explain to me what this screen is all about, is it whats available to buy/sell?

View attachment 51800

Looks like the last 5 trades that happened on that stock

 

[Cius]

Yep, most share trading sites show you the last few trades that happened. They will also show you any outstanding offers. So for instance if people are buying a share at 120 you will see a few sales at that price and then another section where there are guys offering to sell their shares at 130 perhaps and there are no takers. Its nice and transparent actually.