Questions traders ask
Most of these start with something that already happened in an account. Each page answers in two or three sentences first, then explains what went on and what to do next.
Questions
The questions are phrased the way people type them, because that is how they get searched. The answers are general: brokers differ in how they trigger stops, handle orders around corporate actions and enforce settlement rules, so every page tells you what to look up on your own account before you rely on it. The tax pages explain how the rules work and point to the IRS publications and to a tax professional for your own return. Definitions of the terms used along the way are in trading terms.
Orders and fills
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Do Stop Orders Work in Pre-Market or After-Hours Trading?
At many brokers a standard stop does not trigger outside regular hours, so a stock can trade through it overnight. How that plays out and what to do about it. -
How Do I Know If a Stock Is Too Illiquid to Trade?
Four checks for liquidity before you trade: spread as a percentage of price, size at the quote, volume against your order, and gaps in time and sales. -
What Happens When an Order Only Partly Fills?
Part of your order executed and the rest is still open. What the unfilled remainder does, how it affects attached stops and targets, and what to check next. -
Why Did My Stop Loss Sell Below My Stop Price?
A standard stop turns into a market order once triggered, so it fills at whatever bids exist next. Why that can be well below your stop, and what you can change. -
Why Didn't My Limit Order Fill When the Price Touched It?
The chart hit your limit price and the order still sat there unfilled. Queue priority, odd lots, quotes, time in force and session settings explain most cases. -
Why Does My Fill Price Differ From the Price on the Chart?
Charts plot the last trade, sometimes delayed, while you buy at the ask and sell at the bid. Why fills and charts disagree, with a spread worked through.
Accounts and rules
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Can I Day Trade in a Cash Account?
You can day trade in a cash account using settled cash, with no pattern day trader limit. How T+1 caps how often each dollar trades, and the violations to avoid. -
Can I Lose More Money Than I Put Into My Account?
When a trading account can go below zero: margin, short selling and some options positions, with worked examples and the ways to cap your loss. -
Can I Sell a Stock the Same Day I Buy It?
You can sell shares the same day you buy them. What limits it is your account type: good faith violations in a cash account, day trade counts in a margin account. -
How Much Money Do I Need to Start Trading Stocks?
There is often no legal minimum for a cash account. The real limits are trading costs, the pattern day trader rule and position sizing, worked through with numbers.
Risk and exits
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How Do I Exit a Trade If My Broker's App Goes Down?
What to do when your trading app will not load with a position open, and how to prepare: resting stops, the phone desk, a second way in, checking orders. -
How Do I Set a Stop Loss on a Short Position?
A short is protected with a buy stop above the market. Where to place it, how to size the short from the stop distance, and why gap risk runs upward. -
How Long Should I Hold a Losing Trade?
Hold a losing trade until its reason is proven wrong or its time runs out, whichever comes first. Price stops, time stops, and the math of getting back to even. -
What Happens to My Stop Loss When a Stock Gaps Past It?
A stop only triggers on a trade, so after an overnight gap it fires at the open, well past your price. How stop-market and stop-limit orders behave, with the sums. -
What Should I Do After a Big Losing Day?
A short procedure for the hours after a large trading loss: stop for the session, check open orders, write it down, sort rule breaks from bad luck, trade smaller.
Tax and records
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Do I Owe Tax on Trades If I Never Withdraw the Money?
In a US taxable brokerage account, a gain is taxable in the year you sell, even if the cash never leaves. How losses, wash sales and retirement accounts fit in. -
What Records Should a Stock Trader Keep for Taxes?
The records a US stock trader should keep beyond the 1099-B: confirmations, basis for transferred shares, wash sales across accounts, corporate actions, a trade log.
Halts, gaps and events
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What Happens If I Am Short a Stock Over the Ex-Dividend Date?
Short sellers owe the dividend. How the payment in lieu is charged, why the price drop on the ex-date often offsets it, and what special dividends change. -
What Happens to My Open Orders After a Stock Split?
Why brokers cancel or adjust open orders when a stock splits, how the adjustment math works for a 2-for-1 split, and what to check and re-enter afterward. -
What Happens to My Shares in a Reverse Split?
How a reverse split combines your shares, why the price rises and the value stays put, how fractions and cost basis are handled, and what traders watch after. -
What Happens When a Stock I Own Is Halted?
Why exchanges and regulators halt a stock, what happens to your orders during the halt, how the reopening auction sets the price, and what to check right away. -
Why Did My Stock Gap Down Overnight?
Why a stock opens far below yesterday's close, where to find the news that caused it, and what to decide about your position and orders before the open.