# Having trouble selling



## freja (16 March 2006)

Hi,

People might remember me as the person buying 500 dollar lot shares on a low income, well yesterday and today I've been trying to sell a few shares so I can hurry up and buy into another company which in two weeks has gone from 1 dollar a share to 1.70 and I'm just not having any luck.
I am trading online and it seems buying takes all of five minutes but selling my first time is taking days and the company I want to buy into is quickly becoming beyond my reach.
Any advice about successful selling would be most welcome.

Thanks!


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## wayneL (16 March 2006)

freja said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> People might remember me as the person buying 500 dollar lot shares on a low income, well yesterday and today I've been trying to sell a few shares so I can hurry up and buy into another company which in two weeks has gone from 1 dollar a share to 1.70 and I'm just not having any luck.
> I am trading online and it seems buying takes all of five minutes but selling my first time is taking days and the company I want to buy into is quickly becoming beyond my reach.
> ...




freja,  

If you sell at the bid price, the trade should occur instantly.

If you really want a trade now you have to meet the market, simple as that.


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## freja (16 March 2006)

Well I just set it at the lowest price for selling bids- is that right?
The current bid price is 4.730 and offers 4.420 my asking price was 4.500
earlier on in the day


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## wayneL (16 March 2006)

freja said:
			
		

> Well I just set it at the lowest price for selling bids- is that right?




No, you take the highest bid. 

If you look at the screenshot below. There are traders offereing to sell you shares of OXR for $2.12

If you enter your ask price at $2.12 you will get matched bid and ask prices, therefore an instant sale.


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## freja (16 March 2006)

I'm trying to sell BOL shares and on the andrew west site for latest update it has last listed as 0 (??)

Okay I just got this message:
The order has been successfully placed and is in the market. However, the stock is in a trading halt. A stock usually goes into a halt if they have price sensitive information that has not yet been released to the market. Once the announcement is made and suitable time has passed, the stock will usually come back onto the market (depending on what the news is).

hmmm oh well.


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## wayneL (16 March 2006)

They are in a trading halt pending an announcement   

You can't buy or sell til they re-open.

Looks like tommorrow at this stage

<edit> ahh looks like you've found your answer


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## bullmarket (16 March 2006)

Hi freja



			
				freja said:
			
		

> Well I just set it at the lowest price for selling bids- is that right?
> The current bid price is 4.730 and offers 4.420 my asking price was 4.500
> earlier on in the day




What wayne has been saying is correct but there is something strange here   

Are you sure you have the bid (buy) and offer (sell) prices round the right way.?  With the bid being higher than the offer it looks to me like the stock is either in a trading halt or preopen. What stock are you referring to ?

If the stock is in preopen (check the status) then if you want to sell put your offer price 1 or ticks below whatever the IAP is atm and if you offer price is still below the IAP when the stock resumes trading then your sell order will go through on re-open.  You'll need something like Protrader to see the IAP.

Hope this helps..

bullmarket


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## freja (16 March 2006)

Thanks 

So I guess I should cancel my order and reset the price tommorrow according to the last bid?

  I am such a newbie hahaha


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## bullmarket (16 March 2006)

not necessarily freja 

not sure if you saw my earlier post since it was only 1 minute behind yours but hopefully between wayne's and my post you'll be able to work it out.

cheers

bullmarket


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## freja (16 March 2006)

Thanks again...I'm sure I will work it out by the end of the year  :


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## wayneL (16 March 2006)

That's what I would do freja  

Prices may be substantially different though, expect some volatility, hope it goes your way.

Good luck


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## bullmarket (16 March 2006)

hi again freja 

I just saw your earlier post saying it's BOL you're looking at.

On my screen the IAP = $4.50 atm but that could change before it reopnes for trading.  If you can see the IAP then just make sure your sell price is below the IAP (and it doesn't matter by how much) when it reopens and your sell order will definitely go through on the reopen at whatever the IAP will be at the time even if your sell price is lower.

When a stock opens for trading all orders with bids above the IAP and all orders will offers below the IAP are executed at the IAP at opening time.

Good luck 

bullmarket


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## freja (16 March 2006)

bullmarket,

So this live quote thing is not the IAP right? :
Enter Code

Code	 	Last	 	Bid$	 	Offer$	 	+/-	 	Open$	 	High	 	Low	 	Close	 	Volume

BOL	 	0.000	 	4.730	 	4.420	 	0.000	 	0.000	 	0.000	 	0.000	 	4.520	 	0

I don't have any special software for viewing it. 
I think I'll cancel the order and when it reopens go a little below the last offer (?) Sorry, when you gurus try to explain things I feel like I'm trying to comprehend a foreign language.


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## bullmarket (16 March 2006)

freja

On my screen BOL's staus is preopen which means you can place whatever buy/sell orders you like but they won't be executed until the stock actually resumes trading.  The market depth you see now for BOL is live.  If the stock was in a trading halt you then might not be able to place orders until it goes into preopen before resuming normal trading.

If you can't see an IAP then it is probably safer cancel any orders you have in the market depth atm and wait until the stock reopens and then place a sell order at whatever the highest bid (buy) price is at the time if you still want to sell then.

When the stock is open for normal trading you could also place what's called an 'at market'  sell order (should be an option on your  sell order screen) which automatically sells your shares at the highest buy price at the time.  But be aware this is risky if the stock price is falling quickly for some reason and so you could end up selling  at a much lower price than you actually want. If the share price is slow moving then it's safer to place your sell order at the highest buy price when it reopens.

btw: BOL's IAP is noe $4.51 for what it's worth.

cheers

bullmarket


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## freja (16 March 2006)

Ok great, I understood all of that and I've taken your advice so thanks to both of you - I am now off to school pickup. 
Enjoy the rest of your day


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## bullmarket (16 March 2006)

no problem freja 

I forgot to mention what the IAP actually is before 

The IAP (Indicative Auction Price) is what the opening price would be for BOL if it opened for normal trading at that point in time.

An IAP is generated by the ASX as soon as there is an overlap between the bids and offers during preopen which essentially means you have an auction in place for the stock.

Good to see all this is making some sense and enjoy the rest of your day as well 

bullmarket


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## Prospector (16 March 2006)

When I want an instant buy/sell I dont enter the price but select market price.  You do need to know what that is approximately so you know what you will most likely be paying, but most of my transactions are like this.


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## Julia (16 March 2006)

Prospector said:
			
		

> When I want an instant buy/sell I dont enter the price but select market price.  You do need to know what that is approximately so you know what you will most likely be paying, but most of my transactions are like this.




Ditto, Prospector.  Having checked market depth, this saves a lot of  stuffing about.

To everyone offering advice to really new people, could I suggest avoiding using any acronyms or abbreviations.  I know it is second nature to you when you are using these expressions all the time, but to someone who has never heard of a lot of these terms it might only add to the confusion.  Reading through Freja's posts it actually sounded as though his/her original order hadn't actually been placed in the market as it was only later that the usual acknowledgement of receipt of order came through.  I may have misunderstood the sequence of events here, but, Freja, when you place an order you will receive immediate acknowledgement that it has been received.

Good luck and don't hesitate with questions.

Julia


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## GreatPig (16 March 2006)

In my opinion, market price is okay for longer term investments and for liquid stocks, but may be very costly with illiquid stocks held short-term.

For example, I've experienced situations where say I've wanted to sell 40000 shares at 25 cents while the bid column has had 42000 @ 25 cents then 5000 @ 24 cents, then 20000 @ 23 cents, and 80000 @ 22 cents. I've then quickly rushed in an at-market order to get the 25 cents only to find someone's beaten me to it, and I've gotten lumped with cleaning out down to 22 cents at a significant comparative loss. Often I think it's better in that situation to place the limit order at 25 cents and hope it gradually gets taken anyway if you get beaten to it. Of course it depends on the market, and whether you think the price is about to dive.

I almost never use at-market orders now.

Cheers,
GP


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## ghotib (17 March 2006)

Hi Freja,

Just wondering how you're going this morning with BOL. I see that the trading halt is over, and that it was because they bought another company and issued a swag of shares. I also see that the share price is below the $4.52 you wanted to sell at. 

Did you know about all this activity when you decided to sell, or are you working purely on share price? I ask because of Wayne's comment about expecting volatility. I had a quick look at the company after reading your post and I've put it on the watchlist to consider as a long-term hold (thank you). I wondered if holding it might fit your plan as well as selling it to buy the other stock.

FYI I'm also working with tiny amounts of money and it can take me weeks to build up even $500. I'm therefore very sensitive to brokerage and I look for stocks I expect to hold for years, preferably offering discounted dividend reinvestment plans. I'm happy with how things have gone so far, though of course, like most people here, I've only been in a rising market. I just hope it lasts long enough for me to have a go at technical trading. 

All the best,

Ghoti


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## Julia (17 March 2006)

Hello Freja

Like Ghoti, also wondering what you did with BOL?  I almost climbed onto this one two years ago when it was less than $2.  Now of course, wish I had.
Why did you sell it if in fact you have?

All the best

Julia


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## freja (17 March 2006)

Thank you bullmarket for explaining IAP, as Julia pointed out I actually had no idea of what you were referring to but thought I better not ask! I did get a receipt for the order it's just I'd never heard of a halt in trading and to ghotib and all I only sold a portion of BOL (my first ever company) so I could buy into another company quickly because I was about 100 dollars short and the company was only three weeks ago at 1 dollar but had reached to 1.70 so fast.
I bought BOL at 1 dollar a share and just watched it slowly climb, I bought it
because I couldn't think of anything more practical than cranes at the time it went to float and because the company seemed to present itself well and in the right demographic. Anyway I sold a portion for 4.50 a share and then was able to buy 500 dollars worth of another company. Now I have a share in 4 companies - only another 80 or so to go haha.
It will take me a long time to actually know what the hell I am doing but for now I'm just saving and investing petty cash and it's great to have this forum 
to receive help without feeling like a complete idiot.


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## crackaton (17 March 2006)

freja said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> People might remember me as the person buying 500 dollar lot shares on a low income, well yesterday and today I've been trying to sell a few shares so I can hurry up and buy into another company which in two weeks has gone from 1 dollar a share to 1.70 and I'm just not having any luck.
> I am trading online and it seems buying takes all of five minutes but selling my first time is taking days and the company I want to buy into is quickly becoming beyond my reach.
> ...



 hey do you know The Analyser by any chance? ROFLMAO


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## wayneL (17 March 2006)

crackaton said:
			
		

> hey do you know The Analyser by any chance? ROFLMAO




Oh you are evil crackaton!esok:


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## crackaton (17 March 2006)

lol


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## freja (17 March 2006)

That's an inside joke that I'm not in anyway appreciating in my ignorance but
I'm sure it's richly ironic and I'm also sure I'll learn just how really hard it is to invest wisely. Actually I really don't want to know! Ignorance is bliss....temporarily 
:

Just as an aside : I wrote to Kerry Packer to request a sitting for his portrait on behalf of my Mother because my Grandad used to know his dad and he actually wrote back "although your Mother will never paint my portrait, be safe in the knowledge no-one else will" I thought that was very succinct.
And no-one else did so he was true to his word!


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## crackaton (17 March 2006)

freja said:
			
		

> That's an inside joke that I'm not in anyway appreciating in my ignorance but
> I'm sure it's richly ironic and I'm also sure I'll learn just how really hard it is to invest wisely. Actually I really don't want to know! Ignorance is bliss....temporarily
> :
> 
> ...





Fair dinkum? So the old guy still got a bit a life left in him after all. lol
I guess money really does make you live longer


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## Julia (17 March 2006)

freja said:
			
		

> Thank you bullmarket for explaining IAP, as Julia pointed out I actually had no idea of what you were referring to but thought I better not ask! I did get a receipt for the order it's just I'd never heard of a halt in trading and to ghotib and all I only sold a portion of BOL (my first ever company) so I could buy into another company quickly because I was about 100 dollars short and the company was only three weeks ago at 1 dollar but had reached to 1.70 so fast.
> I bought BOL at 1 dollar a share and just watched it slowly climb, I bought it
> because I couldn't think of anything more practical than cranes at the time it went to float and because the company seemed to present itself well and in the right demographic. Anyway I sold a portion for 4.50 a share and then was able to buy 500 dollars worth of another company. Now I have a share in 4 companies - only another 80 or so to go haha.
> It will take me a long time to actually know what the hell I am doing but for now I'm just saving and investing petty cash and it's great to have this forum
> to receive help without feeling like a complete idiot.




Hello Freja

That's a fascinating story about Kerry Packer.

Congratulations on your investment in BOL.  Sounds as if you have made a great start.

Julia


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## StockyBailx (25 March 2006)

Hi, Freja.   

   I know this thread is a bit late in your forum, but I thought best to sign in and assist a newbie such as your self! Read a lot of that dribble spoken by mr Bullmarket, and I find him a very deturbing charactor. Therefor I will try and clear up your simple little question. I also use the BankWest site, so therefor you also will be broking with Sanford I pre-sume.    

   I understand you sold BOL adventually, congradulations. In the future and your not sure what price to sell at. and you really want to sell. Just sell at the market price as *Julie and Prospector*, firmly suggest. At Sanford you can't set a stop loss piont at market, but to buy and sell at your own prefered valued price is a good way to do buisness. For e.g If you buy a stock at *X- $1.00 * and predict that it will turn or stop at *Z- $3.00*, than you can place a valued order at *$3.00* and Sanford will happly sell at that price, not at a larger or smaller price. Its that easy. otherwise you can only buy and sell at the days true price, that being its present market price.

    You say you have just started out, and your using petty money until you fully understand what you are doing. I agree with you totally on that note, but I also notice you seem to be buying MID $10 Stocks. Thats far enough, but can you notice they bring in very little return for the small ammount of money you seem to be placing on these stocks! Really - not the best way to educate yourself. Can I please suggest to you that when placing orders, using smaller ammounst of money. Orders are best placed on PENNY Stocks, meaning lower priced stocks, for e.g *$1000* placed on *PLA*Platium Australia Limited, at todays price of *$0.615* cents. Will give you approximatly_* 1626*_ shares. Now thats a lot more than what *BOL* could  offer. Therefor a days return having brought *1626 PLA Shares* at its  daily offering of *0.06*cents, will give you *$86.58* cents. Where as *$1000* BOL Shares at its daily price of *$4.55* is equal to *219 * shares. Therfor *219*times $0.06* is only equal to* $13.14 * daily profit. See the diferance? I understand higher priced stocks tend to move further in a day, but believe you me penny stocks aren't shy either. 

    There you go Freja, to me thats the best way to learn and start trading, something like $500 to $3000 for penny's, $4000 to $15,000 for the mid class and $16,000 to $50,000 for blue chip and so on. it really puts the easy work into "_A Hard Day At The Office"_. I really hope you understand where i'm coming from. I mean just imagine *$10.000* on *PLA shares*, -*HAY*- think of that for a daily return and yes a good stock to bye at this time!

____________"*All the best Freja and Happy trading to you all'*

*Stock"ie'Bailz*    :goodnight


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## Julia (25 March 2006)

StockyBailz said:
			
		

> Hi, Freja.
> 
> I know this thread is a bit late in your forum, but I thought best to sign in and assist a newbie such as your self! Read a lot of that dribble spoken by mr Bullmarket, and I find him a very deturbing charactor. Therefor I will try and clear up your simple little question. I also use the BankWest site, so therefor you also will be broking with Sanford I pre-sume.
> 
> ...




That's a reasonable point.  But I can see Freja's reason for buying, e.g., BOL rather than a much lower value stock.  I don't know anything about the company you have quoted as being better value, but particularly when Freja is dealing with small amounts of hard to come by capital at this stage, there is a lot to be said for not putting that hard earned cash into stocks which may be considered more risky.  Boom Logistics have been around for a while now and have a reasonable track record.

We will all have different approaches to what stocks we feel comfortable with and different approaches to what we perceive as risk, but I'd be reluctant to suggest to Freja that he/she swaps a fairly well known quantity for something which could entail more risk.

Sounds to me as if Freja has notched up a pretty good capital gain on BOL for a beginner.

Julia


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## freja (27 March 2006)

Stockybailz,

I had actually given penny stocks that exact thought but, as Julia said,
I feel more comfortable at this stage with the dollar variety.
However, I think I will for comparison sake delve into the penny stock next time round.
And yes I think I knew you can set your own price and just wait weeks in the hope of getting it but I was in a hurry to sell that day. 
I don't think we use the same broker because I use Andrew West which I 
don't think is the same as BankWest(?)
Anyway, I thank everyone for their input which is of tremendous help 

Freja


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## StockyBailx (31 March 2006)

*Julie, Feja*,     

  Just a bit more trivia about penny Stocks to help boost your spirits!

Good to see that you's have a strong point of view. (needed)

  I understand your values on dollar stocks, but i have a true story to spin, that i think may rattle your sences a bit more in favour of the Penny.

On the *7th of january * i placed *$5,000 om PMA*, at $1.38 for all the right reasons of coarse. I wouldn't spend a dime on anything that I new wasn't going to perform to my trading standards or have the fundermendals I desire. (top secret) Anyway as* PMA* ensured its success, I let it ride on, until I got the alert that* PMA * had broke the 50% profit barrier, I didn,t let it scare me and aloud *PMA* to move another *20%* until it fell slightly on the *16th of March.* I sold* PMA * for a wopping *70% profit* of *$3,700* giving me a total asset of *$8,700.* (penny's cont,)

I than had it all lined up and in the nick of time brought *10,238 PLA Shares* for *$8,600,* I still hold these shares, and they show a profit of* 57%* total *$2,942 profit.* : 

If I'm not braging to much, I think that is a good 3 months in the office!

 'Look up my fan mail @ *PMA* asx OR *PlA* asx. You may notice both of these are involved in Metals, Mining etc. (Materials)

*Feja,* I started on Andrew West a phone internet service (Doc). Also found Sanford Internet Brockerage a cheaper service. Whom are connected to Andrew West, whom is connected to Bank West, whom offers Sanford at a $27 fee, depending on services required. (Very Good) www.bankwest.com.au

*____Thanks for yur time____*

*----Until we meet again, see you's around the traps-----*

*____HAPPY TRADING____* 

* STOCK'ie'BAILZ*      :goodnight


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