I had a trailing stop on WAB, which activated today. I was careless and somehow let the software default of 100. I only had 40 shares. So I’m negative 60 WAB shares.
I sold (100, instead of 40) at $97.276. WAB closed 96.80. I could use some advice on what to do. Do I just buy 60 shares of WAB ASAP?
Thanks.
Yep, unless you like being in a naked short.
Cheers
Qazulight (Take a Valium and an Ambian and buy at the open)
Well if your broker sold them short for you then I have to assume you have a margin account. If you do not have a margin account then I would think the broker would only sell what you own, no matter what your order stated. Schwab will always alert you even if you have a margin account and ask you if you want to sell more than you have in the account before they will place the stop or the order. But assuming you have a margin account then yes you have to buy them back at some point so look at it this way. After a major sell off today the market may rebound a little tomorrow, so if the company jumps up a dollar or even two, and you buy back your 60 shares, well then on 60 shares you are out maybe 120 bucks. You may get them back for what you sold them for, so you would be out the trade commission, no great loss. But if the market continues to slide you might be able to buy back in at a dollar below your selling price and make a few dollars. There is no time limit on how long you can be short if you have a margin account with the proper amount of margin equity.
Good luck with it.
Thanks for the advice. I got out ok. Bought 60 shares this am for less than I sold.
As the old saying goes, as long as you buy low and sell high, the order doesn’t matter.