Buying and selling stocks

[CalvinHobbes]

Someone told me that if I sell shares in say YHOO then I can't trade in YHOO for a certain period of time. Is this true?

 

[gnumantsc]

Some stocks are like that but you should be able to with YHOO.

 

[Vageetasjn]

He was probably talking about the wash rule:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wash_sale

If you sell for a loss, but do not reap the tax benefit of reporting it in your taxes, it should be ok.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

It also sounds like if I sell for a gain there's no problem.

 

[FoBoT]

don't try to day trade if you don't know what you are doing

 

[thomsbrain]

I don't think there is any technical problem with this, but often you will need to have the cash to cover the buy, because you won't have access to the sell funds for a certain period of time. So you can't flip the sell proceeds directly into the next buy, but there's nothing to stop you from using other funds to buy the same stock you just sold. People who day-trade have "margin" accounts for this reason. Their broker essentially loans them the money to buy the stocks. Very risky if you aren't 100% sure of what you are doing.

 

[Slew Foot]

Unless you have a margin account, you need a few days for the fund to clear from the sale until you can use it to buy again.

 

[imported_Lothar]

Originally posted by: CalvinHobbes
Can I sell shares and buy same stock a few days later?

You can, but what would be the point?