[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference nyoss1::market_investing

Title:Market Investing
Moderator:2155::michaud
Created:Thu Jan 23 1992
Last Modified:Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1060
Total number of notes:10477

836.0. "trading odd lots" by TUXEDO::ROSENBAUM (Rich Rosenbaum) Fri Feb 24 1995 18:56

    Note 835.4 prompts a question.  What experiences have others had trading
    odd lots?  I may be doing so (or trying) in the near term, but I have
    not done so before.
    
    Hard to trade?  Bad prices?
    
    I'm not interested in a discussion of commissions being high for odd
    lots (there is that note somewhere that talks about 1 share purchases for a
    few dollars commission.. how hard is it to _sell_ one share?).
    
    Rich
    
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
836.1odd lot queryTUXEDO::ROSENBAUMRich RosenbaumTue Feb 28 1995 16:064
    Has anyone out there executed an odd lot trade?  (and is willing
    to talk about it :')
    
    rich
836.2TUXEDO::CHIUDah Ming ChiuTue Feb 28 1995 17:1015
Rich,

From my experience, there is no big difference in trading odd lot versus round lots,
as long as it is an actively traded stock.  If you are dealing with a thinly traded
stock, you may get bad prices even it is round lot.

As to commission, if you are thinking of transactions involving only tens or hundreds
of dollars, the commission as a % of trade will be high due to fixed cost (usually
around $25 with discount brokers).  If you are doing odd lots with expensive stocks,
consider using a broker that charges a fixed amount per share.  For example,
I use Stock Cross which charges $25 plus 8.5 cents per share.  So if I buy 10 shares
of any stock, it costs the same - $25.85.  If the price of sa share is $100, then
the commission is only about 2.5%, quite reasonable for such a small trade.

Hope this helps. 
836.3.2 reformatted for 80-column terminalsEVMS::HALLYBFish have no concept of fireTue Feb 28 1995 17:2918
Rich,

    From my experience, there is no big difference in trading odd lot
    versus round lots, as long as it is an actively traded stock.  If you
    are dealing with a thinly traded stock, you may get bad prices even it
    is round lot.

    As to commission, if you are thinking of transactions involving only
    tens or hundreds of dollars, the commission as a % of trade will be
    high due to fixed cost (usually around $25 with discount brokers).  If
    you are doing odd lots with expensive stocks, consider using a broker
    that charges a fixed amount per share.  For example, I use Stock Cross
    which charges $25 plus 8.5 cents per share.  So if I buy 10 shares of
    any stock, it costs the same - $25.85.  If the price of sa share is
    $100, then the commission is only about 2.5%, quite reasonable for such
    a small trade.

    Hope this helps. 
836.4CSEXP2::ANDREWSI'm the NRATue Feb 28 1995 18:003
    Our stock club also buys odd lots (I think our largest number of
    shares purchased is 17)  We use Bidwell.  Commision is $20 +
    .02-.07/share, depending on the price/share.