Let’s say I own stock in a certain company that is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, and I see something on the news (in the evening after the NYSE has closed) that makes me think my stock is going to tank tomorrow. Is there a way I can sell it on a foreign exchange before the NYSE opens tomorrow?
Are stocks only traded on one exchange? Does someone from Singapore (Hong Kong, Paris, wherever) have to buy Apple on the NYSE?
Curious.
There are some companies that trade on two exchanges (usually they’re set up as separate corporations with a common ownership interest in the underlying business.) But these animals are fairly rare.
Nothing stops you from executing a private, off-exchange sale of your Apple shares at any time, assuming you can find a counterparty. Exchanges make that easier, but they are not necessary to trade.
Some stocks are listed on more than one exchange. It is called cross-listing. Sometimes it’s just two US exchanges NYSE and NASD, but it can be in different countries. Sometimes this is accomplished with American Depository receipts where it’s actually the ADR that trades in the US. This shouldn’t be confused with dual-listing in which two legally different companies have merged earnings so that the shares in each are equivalent, but trade in different places and are not interchangeable. The classic example of this is Royal Dutch Shell which trades in the UK and The Netherlands.
I would be very surprised if Apple or Microsoft doesn’t trade in Japan or some Asian markets with a cross listing. Cross listing in Japan was very big in the 80s.
Let’s say the stock was cross-listed. How could you sell it? Call some brokerage firm in Sydney? Open a Scottrade-equivalent account in Tokyo?
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