when you buy some stocks, and later you want to make money, do you have to sell your stocks back to have money

Question

or cash?what if you try to sell them later and no one wants to buy them?

Answer 1

Stocks have value if the company they represent has any value. Only if a company closes is the value zero. Bankrupcy or high risk may may the company approach zero.

Stocks are only bought and sold through a broker, who records the transaction and gets certificate issued if you choose. You buy the stock at the value established by the market while the stock market that lists the company is open.

For example, if you bought Hewlett Packard stock last year (symbol HPQ on the New York Stock Exchange), you could have bought it for $25 a share. The commission fee to the broker would be under $100 usually...so you don;t usually buy just one.
If you wanted to sell it last Friday, when the stock was selling around $40/share (and the comission to the selling broker is under $100), then your would have made about $15/share. If you had 100 share, you would have made $1500 over the year.

Then again, the stock could have dropped and you could have lost money if you HAD to sell. But that is the trick to stocks...pick winners through analysis of where you believe the company will go. HPQ made money because their sales were up, costs were down and they made money. More people wanted the stock and demand rose as did the price.

YOU do not find buyers, there is always buyers at a price, else the price goes down. It is offered for sale by brokers (when you authorize the sale), buyers take it or leave it at the price offered. The broker just sells at the market price. .

Think of it this way. If Ford is selling a hot car, the price of the car goes up over time. If sales are down, the prices start to fall. Stock sales are the same. If you buy a car, your money is tied up in the car until you sell it...then you get money back. Stocks are usually a better investment, there is no depreciation like a car has, but sometimes the value does go down. .

Now, there is a way to lock in your price. You can tell the broker to sell at a limit price. Lets say I want $45 dollars per share for sale of HPQ stock. I could tell the broker that and when the price reaches that it gets sold; maybe next week, or next year.

Generally speaking, the longer a stock is held, the more likely you are make money on it. Some more than others. Many stocks also pay dividends. Since stock is a partial ownership of a company, you share the earnings through dividends; usually a few cents to a few dollars per share or more.

Hope this helps

Answer 2

There are two possibilities...
1 - you sell the stocks off. If there is no buyer, you cannot sell them, but generally someone will be willing to buy a stock on the market. If the market price is higher than you paid, you will make a profit. If the market price is lower than you paid, you will take a loss.

2 - the company gives dividends. When they make a profit, they may choose to give a portion of it to their shareholders, in which case you will be paid the dividend times however many shares you have. Every company pays dividends differently (some every quarter, some once a year, some never pay them).

Answer 3

You need to sell to get money for the stocks you invested in. However, should there be no buyers, you will either have to sell at a lower price then your purchased or hold the sale until the price goes up.

Answer 4

You can earn dividends and or sell the stock at a price so that make a profit over your buying price. You can usually sell the stock immediately, through a trade brokerage.

Answer 5

Yes, you need to sell your stocks to have cash. Ideally you want to buy low and sell high.

Answer 6

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Answer 7

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