Here’s how to sell your worthless shares of stock that have lost all of their value. If you hold shares that have become worthless, maybe because the company has ceased operations, you are probably interested in deducting the full cost basis of that position when you do your taxes. And, since you’re already in the
Considering that there is big money involved in every trade, it is no wonder that a great deal of effort is made to insure the accuracy and completeness of each day’s trading records. Yet despite this effort, there are cases where the trading tape you see on your computer, intraday charts, and in end-of-day data
Transferring an account from one brokerage house to another is a simple, painless process. The process is supported by the Automated Customer Account Transfer (ACAT) system. To transfer your account, you fill out an ACAT form in cooperation with your new broker. The new broker will generally require a copy of your statements from the
The investing term tick, often called stock tick, refers to a change in a stock’s price from one trade to the next (but see below for more). Really what’s going on is that a comparison is made between trades reported on the ticker. Uptick vs Downtick If the later trade is at a higher price
Size of the Market The “size of the market” refers to the number of shares that a specialist or market maker is ready to buy or sell. This number is quoted in round lots of 100 shares; i.e., the last two zeros are dropped. The size of the market information is supplied with a quote
Short sale against the box, or simply short against the box, is the act of selling short securities that you already own. For example, if you own 200 shares of FON and tell your broker to sell short 200 shares of FON, you have shorted against the box. Note that when you short against the
What is Shorting Stock? Shorting means to sell something you don’t own. If I do not own shares of IBM stock but I ask my broker to sell short 100 shares of IBM I have committed shorting. In broker’s lingo, I have established a short position in IBM of 100 shares. Or, to really confuse
This article lists some of the identification systems used to assign unique numbers to securities that are traded on the various exchanges around the world. CUSIP A numbering system used to identify securities issued by U.S. and Canadian companies. Every stock, bond, and other security has a unique, 9-digit CUSIP number chosen according to this
There are some advantages to buying round lots, i.e., multiples of 100 shares, but if they don’t apply to you, then don’t worry about it. Possible limitations on odd lots (i.e., lots that are not multiples of 100) are the following: The broker might add 1/8 of a point to the price — but usually
Transaction notices from any broker will generally show a date called the process date. This is when the trade went through the broker’s computer. This date is nearly always the same as the trade date, but there are exceptions. One exception is an IPO; the IPO reservation could be made a week in advance and