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A stock, or an equity, is a security that represents a share of ownership and voting rights in a company. On Fidelity.com, you can trade most basic equities on domestic exchanges, such as the American Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, as well as Nasdaq-listed, over-the-counter stocks.
To see your positions without leaving the Trade Stocks page, select the Positions tab in the top right corner of the Trade Stocks page. The Positions tab on the Trade Stocks page displays each position's Symbol, Quantity (QTY), Price, Value, and Type.
During market hours, the figures displayed are displayed in real-time. The date-time stamp displays the date and time on which these figures were last updated. To refresh these figures, click Refresh.
To see your balances without leaving the Trade Stocks page, select the Balances tab in the top right corner of the Trade Stocks page. The Balances tab on the Trade Stocks page displays the same fields displayed on the Balances page. During market hours, balances are displayed in real-time.
A list of commonly-viewed Balance fields also appears at the top of the page under the account dropdown box. The Balance fields displayed (when applicable) are Account Net Worth, Cash Avail to Purchase, Unsettled Cash – Credit/Debit (if you have deposits or withdrawals pending), Margin Buying Power (if you have a margin account), and Day Trade Buying Power (if you have a Day Trade Account).
For accounts with margin trading capability, the Balances tab displays the same fields displayed on the Balances page.To see more balances, click Show All Details. The date-time stamp displays the date and time on which these figures were last updated. To refresh these figures, click Refresh.
To see your orders without leaving the Trade Stocks pages, select the Orders tab in the top right corner of the Trade Stocks page. The Orders tab on the Trade Stocks page displays information for open, pending, filled, partial, and canceled orders. You may attempt to cancel or attempt to cancel and replace an order from the Orders tab on the Trade Stocks page.
The date-time stamp displays the date and time on which this information was last updated. To refresh order information, click Refresh.
To sell all the shares you own of a particular security, on the Trade Stocks screen, in the Action pulldown menu, select Sell All Shares. Your order to Sell All Shares reflects only your current holdings for the security you selected—open or unexecuted buy orders for this security are not included. The following rules apply:
Your order will not be sent to Fidelity if you leave the Verification page before you click Place Order, or if you click Edit Order. To cancel the order and return to the order entry page, click the Cancel link.
You can attempt to cancel a pending trade that has not yet executed from the Orders page. See Orders for more information.
When you click Place Order on the Verification page, you are agreeing that the order information is correct, and you are authorizing Fidelity to execute the order on your behalf.
When you submit an order online, you always see a Verification page. Review the Verification page carefully before placing your order. Once you place your order, you see a Confirmation page displaying your order confirmation number and trade details. You can print this confirmation for your records. Once the order has been executed, Fidelity mails you a paper confirmation.
Yes. A trade confirmation is mailed on the business day following the execution of any buy or sell order. If you do not have sufficient funds in your core account, you should not wait for the confirmation to reach you before mailing your payment or securities. Once you receive your confirmation, examine it carefully and advise Fidelity of any discrepancy immediately.
See Trading Options, or Trading Multi-leg Options.
How fees and commissions are assessed depends upon a variety of factors. Visit Investment Products > Brokerage and click "More about online commission rates" to view Fidelity's Brokerage Commission and Fee Schedules.
Yes. The Securities and Exchange Commission imposes a sales fee of 4.18 cents per $1,000 of principal amount or fraction thereof. This fee is in addition to your commission, and will be shown separately on your confirmation.
Trades that qualify for Fidelity's 1-Second NBBO Execution Guarantee are settled in one second. To qualify, brokerage orders must meet the following criteria:
The settlement date is the day on which payment for securities bought or certificates for securities sold must be in your account. Settlement dates vary from investment to investment. For details, see the table of settlement dates in the Brokerage Handbook.
Trades placed in a non-retirement account will be settled automatically from the balance in your core account if no other funds are received. If you deplete the balance in your core account, you may deposit additional funds into your core account or pay for your trade through any available equity in your margin account. Your margin account will be used automatically if you have one and if there are sufficient marginable securities to pay for your purchase. Fidelity reserves the right to require 100% of the purchase price in your account to cover special purchases or first-time trades (e.g., stocks under $5, one-day-settlement products).
Yes. You may pay for trades in a non-retirement account either from a balance currently held in your core account or by depositing additional money via electronic funds transfer, a check, or a wire transfer to Fidelity. For detailed instructions and online forms, see Put Money/Assets into Your Accounts. This page lists and describes all the ways you can put money/assets into your brokerage account, including transfers between your Fidelity and bank accounts.
On the settlement date, unless you instruct us otherwise. Proceeds will automatically be used to pay down any margin debt, if you have any, and the balance will remain in your core account.
Brokerage customers with checkwriting may write checks against the proceeds of a sale on or after the settlement date.
Crossing session trading allows you to buy and sell NYSE or AMEX listed issues at their closing prices for a 45-minute period between 4:15 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. ET. Fidelity accepts orders during this session. You must be willing to buy and sell at the exact 4:00 p.m. closing price. At 5:00 p.m., the exchange will attempt to pair off orders using the FIFO (first in-first out) method.
On a particular trading day, you can participate in the crossing session either by placing a crossing session market order after the market has closed, or by placing a GTX designation on a limit order before the market closes at 4:00 p.m. ET. GTX orders cannot be placed online.
Orders placed when the markets are closed are subject to market conditions existing when the markets next open. Any equity requirement necessary for trade approval will be based on the most recent closing price of the security that you intend to buy or sell. Because of fluctuating conditions, the ultimate execution price may differ at times from the most recent closing price.
When placing orders when markets are closed, carefully consider any limitation you may wish to place on the transaction. Fidelity reserves the right to refuse to accept any opening transaction for any reason, at its sole discretion.
To protect customers' accounts, Fidelity has put the following restrictions on orders placed online:
Margin orders, Sell Short, and Buy to Cover require a margin agreement.
The following order types are available for stock trading:
For a Stop Limit order, you must specify both the Stop Price and Limit Price, which can be the same or different amounts.
For more information, see Order Types and Conditions.
You place a time limitation on a stock trade order by selecting one of the following time-in-force types:
For more information, see Order Types and Conditions.
You place conditions on a stock trade order by selecting one of the following:
For more information, see Order Types and Conditions.
For non-retirement brokerage accounts, at least 25% of the order value must be in the account already and in cash. However, to purchase securities priced under $5 per share you must have 100% of the order value in cash before placing the order.
The current initial margin requirement is 50% of the purchase price for most securities. You generally have up to five business days to meet this requirement after purchasing securities on margin. This requirement is known as Reg. T or the Fed requirement and is set by the Federal Reserve Board. After the purchase is complete, there are additional ongoing margin requirements known as maintenance requirements which require customers to maintain a certain level of equity in their margin accounts. The house maintenance requirement is currently 30%; however, based on the liquidity and volatility of a security, this figure can be as high as 100%.