This is how the market works. Excahanges get their name because a broker has shares of stock to exchange for money.
Much of the trading done today is on-line. True there are still a few %26quot;cry%26quot; exchanges. A cry exchange is one in which real people shout and motion about the price of stocks or commoditiies.
No one goes to the company headquarters to buy the stock or shares. The company has a brokerage handle the shares of stock. Everything is done at the exchange or on-line through the broker.
In the beginning when a person or people open a trading account there is quite a bit of paperwork. Once the trading account is opened, money and shares/stocks are readily and easily exchanged.
The buttons pushed are those on the keyboard and on the brokers website.
Believe me, there are plenty of people who don't trade who probably have the same Qs and thoughts you do. You're not stupid. In fact, the mere fact you asked the Q AND you received answers, means there are folks who know what to do and how to do it. AND there are plenty of others who don't.
Remember this: There is no such thing as a %26quot;stupid question. The only stupid question is the one not asked.%26quot;
When you ask a question, there might be at least one other person who would love to ask the same question, but for one reason or another is afraid to ask it. You may be doing other people a HUGE favor by asking the Q!
Thanks for asking your Q! I enjoyed answering it!
VTY,
Ron Berue
Yes, that is my real last name!How do people exchange stocks? Do you log onto a secret website or push a button at Wall Street?12-22-07 Hi the!
Thank you very, very much. I檓 honored my answer was THE BEST!
When I received the notice, it REALLY helped to make my day!
Again, Thank You Very Much!
Very Truly Yours,
Ron Berue
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How do people exchange stocks? Do you log onto a secret website or push a button at Wall Street?I am assuming you are not talking about the individual investor buying and selling shares; rather you are referring to the actual transfer of shares on the floors of the Exchanges...right? Well, I will just assume that.There are people on the exchange floor that determine the bid/ask price of the stocks from the traffic from the night before (Mutual Funds buy their shares after hours only, so this generates the bid/ask price for the morning). The Floor Broker is NOT an employee of the Exchange. There is someone on the Floor of the Exchange who works for the exchange as a salaried employee, not commissioned like the floor broker. These salaried employees have a book where they collect orders that cannot be filed by the floor brokers (these get bought/sold at later dates from the Exchange...this is done to keep the exchanges of shares as liquid as possible). The Floor broker is employeed by the company/brokerage. The bid/ask prices are determined by the demand for the stock. Floating around the stations on the floor are brokers that represent Brokerages, these guys usually trade big block orders (as they get a commission) at the varying stations for the trading order received from the brokerage they are affiliated with (not necessarily employed by, but affilitated with). So if you have 10,000 shares of XYZ stock you click 'sell' on your Fidelity Brokerage account, than there rep on the floor is going to take that order to XYZ and try and sell it to XYZ for that price, while someone also at that Station is going to try and buy at a set price. If you put in a market order, that broker sellling your shares is going to sell them the fastest means possible...meaning the lowest price offered. The Floor Broker at the XYZ station is trying to work orders into managed groups. So, if you have 55 shares, XYZ will buy them, with a bunch of others to make a clean bundle of 100 shares to sell on the open exchange. Same is true the other way. If you have a buy order.
This is as paperless as possible, so your shares for the company will only exist in 'book-entry' form.
Now this is a pretty bare-bones explanation. It is complex, as there are options order and such that are different than the equities market...but I think you get the idea. Moreover, there is communication between the Exchange Floor and their station, which is important (through a Squawk Box) but that isn't important to know.
Hope this helped.
You're not dump. There are no classes for this stuff...so how else are you suppose to learn?How do people exchange stocks? Do you log onto a secret website or push a button at Wall Street?The stocks used to be little certificates (I think they will still give you paper certificates for a price) but you either buy them directly from the company or through a broker. It's no secret, go to a company's website and they probably have a link that says investor relations and it will tell you how you can buy their stock (like who to send the money to, whether there is an application, how to get a prospectus, etc). You may not be able to buy it directly from them, but it depends on the company. Go to the Hershey's website and you will see. A broker just buys the stocks and holds them for you. Going through a broker gives you more options, firsttrade.com is very simple, as are other. You put money in an account, ask it to buy x number of shares of abc company's stock and it does. You have to fill out an application to get the account, just like a bank account, but it's not complicated at all. What's complicated is picking the right investment and not losing all your money. %26quot;Getting Started in Stocks%26quot; by Alvin Hall is a great book for you to read if you really want to know. It's very easy to understand and will give you a lot of information.How do people exchange stocks? Do you log onto a secret website or push a button at Wall Street?You could do those things, but the vast majority of people have a brokerage account, and the shares are held by the broker %26quot;in street name%26quot; for you.
Okay. You go to an office of, say, Charles Schwab. There is one in your city. Bring your checkbook. Talk to one of the fellows there. Tell him you want to open an online account, and fund it with money, for which you will write a check right now. He will help you do that (that's how I did it, anyway, with $6000 in... um, 1993 I think).
You have to fill out paperwork to open your account, so be prepared and bring your ID and Social Security card.
The guy will give you instructions for logging on to the website. When your check clears, you can log on. You can go to the %26quot;stock trading%26quot; tab, and buy stocks by name or ticker symbol. You don't get the certificates; it's all virtual in the databases of your broker. Three days later, you get your %26quot;confirmation.%26quot; Then you can sell the stock if you want, same way you bought it. Or you can keep it around for a while.
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