How selling investments works

In this article we’ll run through how you place an order to sell an investment, then we’ll go behind the scenes and explain how your order moves from confirmed to completed i.e. when you get your cash. 🤑 The aim of this article is for you to understand what happens at every stage of the sale process, so you know exactly what to expect when you come to sell an investment yourself.

Before you sell ☝ 

🔔 If you’re looking to sell an investment or some of it, first make sure it’s the right decision for you. Investing is a marathon not a sprint, and most investments fare better when held over the long term (min. 5 years).

But if you’re sure you’re ready to sell an investment, then go ahead and read on to find out how it all works. 

Placing your order 🛒

In your account, tap on the investment you want to sell and then choose the sell investment option. You’ll then be whisked away to place your order. When you’re placing it, you’ll need to tell Dodl how much of the investment you want to sell or ‘sell all units’ if it’s the whole thing you’ll be selling. Details in, move through to review your order.

When you review your order to sell an investment, you’ll be given an estimated sale value – this is a rough idea of how much you’ll get for your sale. It’s only an estimate because it’s based on the latest available price for your investment and its price is likely to change between the time you place your order and when it’s processed. Remember, Dodl orders are processed once a day, after the cut-off (usually 3pm). The actual price you get for your sale will be confirmed on your contract note (yep, you get receipts for your investment sales too 📃).

If you’re happy with your order, submit it and Dodl’ll do the rest. 👌

 

Order confirmed ➡ Order completed ✅

There’ll be a short delay between the moment your order is confirmed and when your investment is sold and the cash from the sale is yours, sitting pretty in your account. That’s because selling investments isn’t instantaneous and your order has to be processed, sent to the market to be dealt, then come back to you with the goods.

Because Dodl likes to keep things as simple as possible, we bulk orders to process all together once a day, after the daily cut-off time. 🕒 That’s why the cut-off time exists and why we may ask for just a little patience when we’re processing your order – it’s on its way, promise!

Bulk orders explained 📦

After the clock next strikes 3pm (assuming it’s a working day), the order you’ve just placed will be processed. At this stage it’s bulked with all other orders of the same type and sent to the market to be dealt. Once it’s been dealt, your part of the bulk order (your cash) is sent to your account and the order is complete!

Though all orders are bulked, different types of investments (shares & exchange traded funds vs funds) diverge a little on how they are processed and how quickly they complete. 👇

For shares and exchange traded funds (ETFs)

Once your order's been processed after the 3pm cut-off, it’ll usually be dealt with right away. That's because shares and exchange traded funds trade all day on the stock market.

You’ll get your contract note shortly after this, confirming it’s all gone through and that’s it - your order is complete! As a rough guide, it'll typically take 1-2 working days to complete your share or ETF orders and for them to appear in your investments.

For funds

This stage takes a little longer for funds, usually 3-4 working days in total. That’s because they don’t trade all day on a stock exchange like shares and ETFs, instead they are valued, and deals are taken for them, just once a day (usually around midday).

Once processed though, just like for shares/ETFs, you’ll be sent a contract note confirming the date, time and price your investment is sold at. On your fund contract note you’ll also see something called the ‘settlement date’ - this is the date your sale should complete on (it’s usually 2-3 working days later).

Investment sold 💰

After your order’s been processed and you’ve got your contract note, it’ll take a day or so for the cash from the sale of shares/ETFs to actually arrive in your Dodl account, and 3-4 working days for funds.

If you’re withdrawing the cash, you’ll need to wait for this, so be sure to factor these timings in when you’re selling an investment. But if you’re using the cash to reinvest, then you can do this as soon as your order’s been processed and you’ve had your contract note.

Selling solved 👌

Well that just about covers it! You’ve now seen under the bonnet of selling investments with Dodl. It’s a bit to take in but that’s because we think it’s super important you understand exactly how this most important of processes works – so you know why your cash doesn’t just magically appear after you’ve submitted your order.

Once you’ve digested this info, and you’re certain you want to sell, you can head back to your account to place your order. And, as always, if there’s anything you need just a little more detail on, chat to one of our lovely team in the app. 📲

🔔 Just a reminder, nothing in this article should be taken as advice – Dodl doesn’t give advice, but we do hope the info is helpful.