# Minimum shares



## bettrave (Jan 10, 2013)

Hi,

When you buy an individual stock, how much mininum do you buy?
Last week, I bought my first individual stock, CTC.A, 10 shares for almost 1000$

Thank you.


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## Nemo2 (Mar 1, 2012)

bettrave said:


> Hi,
> 
> When you buy an individual stock, how much mininum do you buy?
> Last week, I bought my first individual stock, CTC.A, 10 shares for almost 1000$
> ...


I think you have to consider that, even if you're ('only') paying $9.99 per transaction, the cost per share to buy is $1.......(not to say that I haven't done exactly that)


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

I don't recall there being a minimum (other than whole numbers :rolleyes2: ). 

However, in the past some exchanges charged a premium for odd lots. 

Then too, there is the practical limit of the buy/sell commissions. If one is buying 2 shares at $20 in commissions (i.e. $10 to buy and $10 to sell) - there better be a hope of much more than a 3 cent gain per share over ten years or it won't be worthwhile (i.e. at that rate of gain, it's almost impossible to make the commission fees back to end up with a gain).


Cheers


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## Synergy (Mar 18, 2013)

I try to keep my individual purchases to no less than of 3-5K. This helps me keep my yearly costs down. I try to keep my combined yearly costs (transaction fees, MER's, etc.) to less than 35 basis points (0.35%). In 2013 I recall I calculated a total cost of 0.28% for my total portfolio.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

I usually make my transactions when I can keep my transaction costs under 1%.

So, in your case bettrave, pay $10 for $1,000 worth of stock, is 1%.


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## 6811 (Jan 1, 2013)

I try to buy in lots of 100 or at least $2000. In the past I've had trouble having odd lot transactions partially fill so try to avoid them.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

I think it depends if you want to buy and hold or do trading. Is the question being asked more like "what is the minimum amount of your share purchase"?


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## bettrave (Jan 10, 2013)

I'm with Questrade.
It cost me 4,99$ per trade.
So about 0,5%


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## jcgd (Oct 30, 2011)

My position sizes increase as my portfolio value increases. When I started I had about $10k and 8-10 positions. Now that I have much more money and the same number of positions I usually buy in amounts of $1500-2000 to build a position. 

Originally I tried to keep commissions under 1%.


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## jacofan (Apr 17, 2013)

I try to keep it so the commissions only add a few cents/share of cost at most. With stocks over $25, I'm fine if the commission cost stays under 10 cents/share.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

I try to spend between $5000-8000 per purchase and typically go for round numbers of say 100 shares. I feel that anything less may take a long time for real growth to happen. I buy on dips and wait for discounts to maximize profit and minimize fees. This does mean I have some dead cash sitting around as I patiently wait for dips to get everything I want, but I have time.


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## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

I try to buy in round numbers (100's).
But I've bought 50, 10, 5 & 1 when the stock price was just too high.


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## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

I usually work out a multiple of 10 shares that comes out close to $5K. I have found that odd-lots tend to get partial fills though -- and that can be awkward. It is my habit to specify a limit price -- usually just the ask price from the quote -- and leave the trade open for the day. Last week I was buying ZPR and got a partial fill at 13.92, but didn't get the last 200. So I had to place *another* trade at 13.93 the next day to get the rest. So 2 x $10 trades to buy $4,200 of shares -- 0.2% I guess. In future I will be more careful what price limit I specify on things that have such low trade volume.

Do folks always, always, always specify a price limit? I've had that advise from a couple of sources, and until my experience with ZPR, I would have thought it couldn't go wrong.


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

gardner said:


> ... It is my habit to specify a limit price ...
> Do folks always, always, always specify a price limit?
> 
> I've had that advise from a couple of sources, and until my experience with ZPR, I would have thought it couldn't go wrong.


Yes ... and lots of times it's be filled in separate blocks (ex. 300 @ $10.10, 200 @ $10.12, 100 @ $10.12) but always being completely filled. Though I'm usually not sweating a small price difference so I'm placing the buy limit a bit over the ask price. I'm also typically monitoring it so that if there's an unusual price fluctuation, I have time to adjust the limit to help make sure it completely fills by the closing bell.


Cheers


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