When I sell my stock who buys it?

Institutions, market specialists or makers, corporate traders or individual traders may buy your stocks when you sell them.

What happens when you sell shares of stock?

So when you buy a share of stock on the stock market, you are not buying it from the company, you are buying it from some other existing shareholder. Likewise, when you sell your shares, you do not sell them back to the company—rather you sell them to some other investor.

Can I sell more shares than I have?

Money can be made in the equities markets without actually owning any shares of stock. Short selling involves borrowing stock you do not own, selling the borrowed stock, and then buying and returning the stock only if and when the price drops.

Can I buy a stock and sell it the same day?

Retail investors cannot buy and sell a stock on the same day any more than four times in a five business day period. This is known as the pattern day trader rule. Investors can avoid this rule by buying at the end of the day and selling the next day.

Does a broker have to buy a stock to sell it?

For a transaction to occur, there must be a buyer on one side and a seller on the other; even when prices are falling, there are buyers of the falling securities. A broker does not have to buy the stock you are trying to sell; a broker is there to act as an agent on behalf of the seller, finding someone to make the purchase.

What would happen if everyone in the stock market sold their stocks?

If everyone were to sell, there is no market in that stock (or other assets) anymore until sellers and buyers find a price they are willing to transact at. When a stock is falling it does not mean there are no buyers. The stock market works on the economic concepts of supply and demand.

Is it wise to buy shares of a stock every day?

Even spread out over the span of a day, this remains unwise. You’ll alert the few market participants in that stock that you have a large interest in buying. You’ll probably drive up the price of the stock, due to basic supply and demand for available shares.

What happens when there are no buyers on a stock?

Typically, this happens in thinly-traded stocks on the pink sheets or over-the-counter bulletin board (OTCBB), not stocks on a major exchange like the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). When there are no buyers, you can’t sell your shares—you’ll be stuck with them until there is some buying interest from other investors.