Can a Stock Sell Without a Purchaser?
- NASDAQ is a stock exchange that exists only in cyberspace. It does not have an exchange floor where buyers and sellers meet to execute orders. Instead, each stock listed in this exchange has a market maker assigned to it. Orders are routed to the market maker, who matches buyers with sellers. If you enter an order to sell a stock and the market maker cannot match a buyer to your order, the market maker will buy your stock from his own account.
- The New York Stock Exchange has a physical trading floor. A trading specialist is assigned to each stock in the exchange. When you enter an order to sell a stock on this exchange, it is routed electronically to a trader who works near the specialist post for that stock. The trader shouts out the order and it is the specialist's job to match this order with a similar buy order from another trader in the area. If she cannot, she will buy your stock from her own account.
- Regular market hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (EST), Monday through Friday. Some brokers, however, allow you to trade stock for several hours before the market opens and for several hours after it closes. During extended trading hours, there are no specialists or market makers and orders are matched electronically over a computer network. If there are no buyers for your stock, your order will not be filled during this time.
- If the stock you own is not listed on a stock exchange, it is traded in the Over the Counter market. OTC stocks are usually small companies or companies that have experienced financial difficulty, causing them to lose their listing. Orders in this market are executed electronically through a market maker, much like the NASDAQ.