I was wondering if anyone could help me as Iāve experienced a problem with one of the stocks I invested in.
At the moment, Sound Energy PLC (SOU) is fluctuating between 0.98p and 1.13p. I purchased the share at 0.98 and tried to sell at 1.13p, but when I tried to sell at that exact moment (whilst checking the live price on Google), it sold 12531 shares for Ā£122.80 even though I bought them for Ā£135.04 (Purchased as Ā£123.54 then a further Ā£11.50).
After selling lower than I bought for, I tried to then buy the shares back for 0.98 once the price had dropped again (as the pattern/nature of this stock fluctuates every 5 to 10 minutes and keeps revolving between 0.98 and 1.13 - Iām not sure why). However, when I tried to buy again at the cheaper price, I was charged 1.13 again and only for 10961 shares.
I thought maybe (possibly) I was very unlucky with my timing on both occasions, so to test this out, I kept an eye on the live price again on Google and timed it just exactly as it changed back to 1.13 then sold again to try and get my money back, but then I came out with just Ā£107.42 even though I had purchased the shares with Ā£122.80. (Around a Ā£15 loss!)
I did one last try because it didnāt seem right so topped up with Ā£30 and purchased one last time (exactly as it dropped again to 0.98 to bring my share amount back to where it was at the beginning at over 12,000 shares), but AGAIN it charged me the higher rate of 1.13 and subsequently, the Ā£30 is now also gone. I decided to just sell the whole lot again and invest in another share instead because Iām furious!
I donāt know what to do about it because Iāve lost Ā£45 in the space of about 30 minutes and not because of bad investing, but because of the app not working properly with this particular share (I havenāt had any issues with any other shares). I was thinking that the issue might be that the app canāt calculate it accurately because it is under 1 pence.
I would like to know if anyone has any advice for me on how I can get my Ā£45 back.
The problem is that live price is not THE price. It is the average of the transacted trades and so you cannot always actually buy or sell stocks for that price.
Iāve not looked into it much, but could it have anything to do with stamp duty? 0.5% of a purchase might not sound a lot when it only comes to a couple of pence but soon adds up when each share is less than a penny.
You also have to take into consideration that youāre trying to trade a pennystock. Itās volatility is very very high. Prices change very strongly with most trades made (illiquidity). As a beginner you should definitely not try to trade stocks like this one.
How did you check prices? I would suggest using google finance. Even yahoo looks delayed to me
Have you checked execution prices at LSE? were they inline with other trades executed at similar time? if stock doesnāt have good liquidity, this may be issue
Your problem will be that the share price quoted is essentially the largest last filled order price. As a buy order was filled you saw 1.13 then a sell order came through and it dropped to 0.98 but that does not mean you can transact at 0.98.
Happy to help. It is maddening to think you have got the pattern and then keep getting stiffed. In future, now that trades are free maybe, maybe dip your toe in with a small lot to test how wide off the mark prices are.
Definitely! I think itās tempting to go all in, knowing that the share prices are so low because of the current economic climate and fear of missing out, but I totally agree!
Iāve already sold it all - Might be tempted to buy into Sound Energy again if they come any closer to sealing their oil deal with Morocco. Keeping one eye open.
Another persons post about the same thing again, time to be telling people a confirmed price. I saw someone comment that its in the pipeline. Any news on this?
Carly, Han seems right hear. the price quoted as āthe priceā is just the mid price between the bid & offer (buy and sell), the buy and sell price is always different. Check the bid/offer prices as this will give you the actual price to buy sell at. Good luck
Hey all, Iāve taken everyoneās advice on board and today Iām Ā£70 up from when I posted this post by investing more carefully. As a new trader itās easy to trip up fast by not understanding the market properly. Thanks for your support!
