How long does a share trade take to go through

sh856531

Hi Guys,

I've never actually bought or sold individual shares in a company so I was hoping someone could help me with a couple of questions:

1. If someone gives say, Hoodless Brennan an instruction to purchase or sell shares in a large company - say a bank or a blue chip on the FTSE, does the instruction take place essentially immediately? Or is there a delay within which the price could change? Or is the price at which you agree gauranteed regardless of how long it takes HB to carry out the instruction?

2. Does your ability to make a sale of shares depend on the availabilty of someone who wants to buy the shares? Are there situations where people can't buy or sell the shares of FTSE companies because there's no-one interested in making the opposite side of the transaction with you? Or is it the case that because these company's shares have so much daily activity on them, its essentially impossible for there not to be a buyer or seller for whatever operation you want to carry out.

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can advise

Best Regards

tradetime

sh856531 wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I've never actually bought or sold individual shares in a company so I was hoping someone could help me with a couple of questions:

1. If someone gives say, Hoodless Brennan an instruction to purchase or sell shares in a large company - say a bank or a blue chip on the FTSE, does the instruction take place essentially immediately? Or is there a delay within which the price could change? Or is the price at which you agree gauranteed regardless of how long it takes HB to carry out the instruction?

As I understand these types of brokers, when you place a request to buy, they will quote you a price that is good for about 10 seconds, if you accept within that time then the price sticks, if you do not then you will need a requote.

sh856531 wrote: »

2. Does your ability to make a sale of shares depend on the availabilty of someone who wants to buy the shares? Are there situations where people can't buy or sell the shares of FTSE companies because there's no-one interested in making the opposite side of the transaction with you? Or is it the case that because these company's shares have so much daily activity on them, its essentially impossible for there not to be a buyer or seller for whatever operation you want to carry out.

Many thanks in advance to anyone who can advise

Best Regards

The ability to sell anything depends on the availability of a buyer. Most listed companies on an index such as the FTSE should be active enough to ensure there is always buyers at a price.

sh856531

Thanks tradetime.

Am I right in thinking then that the instruction is executed in realtime then, or do all the trades get bundled up and executed say on the our or at some other regular interval?

Thanks again

S

jimmyss1

Your instruction to buy or sell is executed in real time. As mentioned earlier, when you tell the broker you want to buy or sell, you will be given a real time price for the shares. This price is valid for about 15 seconds, within which you must decide what you want to do. If you don't confirm anything within those few seconds, then nothing happens, you will just need ask for another quote again. Once you confirm however, the deal is executed immediately, at the qouted price.

sh856531

Thanks guys - much appreciated

clairbear_3

Buying and selling during market hours (the acceptance of the quote )is instant, however is not total confirmation.
Only when you recieve the contract note can you regard the transaction as processed
You can of course place an order outside market hours which may or may not be fulfilled when market opens

sh856531

Hi Claire,

Only when you recieve the contract note can you regard the transaction as processed

How long does that usually take?

Many thanks

S

jimmyss1

when you are dealing online during market hours the contract note is issued immediately. It is just a confirmation of the deal and the price.

clairbear_3

Contract Note issued usually within minutes
However once I accepted a quote to buy,the transaction was'confirmed'
The next day though the shares were not appearring in my portfolio
so I contacted dealers to be told 'although transaction was confirmed actual confirmation is reliant on the market maker securing the deal and in this case this wasnt done.Confirmation is only when you have recieved contract note.
Although this happens rarely it is something to watch out for