How to cash shares - Day or good till date?

bestyman

We are cashing in some shares that my wife received from where she works.

We have logged on to the UBS website and it is asking under " Transaction type" the order duration.
Choices are Day or Good till date ( max 90 days).

I have googled it, but still don't understand.

Thanks for any help.

puzzledinvestor

That probably refers to limit orders. You set the price you want and they will try to sell the shares at that price (or higher) until the selected date. However, if the market price is lower throughout the period they won't get sold. You should be able to modify or cancel the order while it hasn't been filled, so an e.g. 10 day order is the same as renewing each evening a daily order.
You may also be able to use a market order during the hours the market is open. In that case you are guaranteed to get them sold, but you may get a lower price than desired. Depending on the platform you may get a firm quote for 15 seconds which you can then accept or reject.

bestyman

Thanks for the reply.
Does the price vary a great deal? I think there are 19 shares at around £171 each. I assumed that this is what they would sell for?

Are you saying that I could state, for example £175 and 30 days and wait and see if they sold for that?

I'm thinking of just selling them "Day", is this a sensible thing to do?

Thanks

puzzledinvestor

That's probably the closing price from today. Not necessarily what you'll be able to get tomorrow, but should be a good indication.
You can have a look at the prices at google finance for instance.

The limit date does not make much difference (if the order expires and you still want to sell them, you'll set a new order), it is mainly the price. If you set £180, it may not be reached in the time limit, and by then the price may be lower or higher than now.
If instead you set a price lower than the current one, you are very likely to sell them, but getting a less. Usually, you'll still get the opening market price if it is better than the one you have set.

You should probably ask the provider of the account, and they can give you more accurate information, as there may be some differences.