It cost you $567.70 to purchase the shares. (93.45 * 6) + 7
If you sell them at $94.04 you will get $557.24. (94.04 * 6) -7
Not sure where they got the minus 31 but you are definitely minus ~11.
Is there a miscellaneous fee of $20 somewhere for account maintenance or something like that?
You need to learn to calculate your cost basis and net proceeds.
Cost basis per share is share price x # of shares plus fees divided by # of shares.
Gross proceeds is selling price per share x # of shares less fees divided by # of shares.
Net gain or loss is the difference between the two.
Commissions will KILL your gains for such tiny transactions as $500.
Imagine going to the ATM and paying $14 to take out $500. That's pretty much what you are trying to do and you are wondering why you aren't ahead.
You pay that $7 TWICE...once to buy, once to sell. If you are only going to buy six shares and it costs you $14, each share has to go up $2.33 for you to break even. Yours only went up .59.
We can do this math backwards and forwards in any number of ways...hope you see where I'm going with this. :-)
It depends on how your brokerage handles the market value of your shares. Sometimes, the level of your data can also delay the quotes and values. My brokerage is real-time, so I get instant, accurate updates of the price and profit on the spot, but other brokerages might be delayed.
If you have a negative profit of $31, that doesn't make sense, and may even be a brokerage sync or server issue. You should contact them to confirm.
You should also note that your commission likely isn't $7, it's $14. You're often charged twice, one for the buy, and one for the sell. That's how brokerages catch those who don't read the fine print. "It costs $7 to BUY shares". They don't mention the sell.
Scottrade is a reliable broker and has low fees. I doubt they are cheating you. So, just hold your stock and don't look at your account every 5 minutes. Over time, you'll likely see a nice gain on this investment.
Be Easy Wait Six Months ---Apple Has A Some Nice Things Coming Out... re-check totals...other stocks in your account. ?...Tom Bender..
It's important to know that stocks go up and down all day long. Up and down is based on what the stock market opened at that day. you purchased them for $93 but at the opening of that morning when you checked they wer probably a lot higher, so you were down on the day.
$7 to buy and again to sell is the dealing cost. You haven`t allowed for spread which at certain times can be wider ( early ) than during the day.
You need to calculate ask by quantity plus costs to find book cost then bid times quantity minus costs to find net return. Never mid-price to mid-price.
Net return> book cost = profit.
Net return< book cost = loss.
Dont get caught watching by the hour. I would always diversify into 4 or 5 stocks. 1 stock in not diversified enough, and always average in. jmo
If you dont know the answer(s) the this (and there are several possible ones) then you should not be buying stocks/shares
I recently bought 6 shares of apple for $93.45 and I have to pay a $7 charge with scottrade. I checked on it recently and it was up to $94.04 but it said I was down $31. Last time I checked (94.04 - 93.45)x6 -7 is not $31. Any ideas or some things I'm missing?
