Your order will be placed into a queue of other buyers or sellers, and order processing times might be affected by things such as:
the number of other buyers and sellers in the market
if the market is open or closed
if the investment is in a trading halt
if the price of an investment doesn’t reach the limit price you have set (or better)
the liquidity of the investment you’ve placed an order for.
You can place orders outside of market hours on Sharesies, but your order won’t be sent to market until the exchange you’re buying from reopens.
Investments that aren’t traded frequently can remain pending, or unfilled, for an unknown amount of time.
Limit order processing times
Buy or sell limit orders for Australian, New Zealand, or US investments will wait on-market for up to 30 calendar days for the limit price to be reached. If the limit price isn’t met within 30 calendar days, the limit order is cancelled.
For cancelled buy limit orders, the money is returned to your Sharesies Wallet.
For cancelled sell limit orders, the investment stays in your Portfolio.
If your limit order is cancelled, you can place it again.
Extended-hours orders
If you’ve opted in to extended US trading hours, an extended-hours order is one that has the opportunity to fill before, during, and after regular US market hours.
An extended-hours order will only stay on the market until the end of the post-market session on one trading day (unless it fills). Any part of the order that hasn't filled by the end of the post-market session will be cancelled. If you like, you can place the order again.
Cancelled order processing times
Although we don’t guarantee an order can always be cancelled, you may be able to cancel an order that hasn’t yet been filled by finding the investment in your Portfolio and selecting View order > Cancel order.
When an order is cancelled, we look to make the money available in your Sharesies Wallet as soon as we can. If it’s cancelled when the market is closed, the money should land in your Sharesies Wallet once the market next reopens. You’ll receive the money back into your Sharesies Wallet in the currency placed when buying an investment, minus any applicable exchange fees.
Auto-invest order processing times
Auto-invest orders are placed after 12 PM AET on the day they're set for. If your auto-invest is set for a weekend day, it will be placed after 12 PM AET the following trading day.
The money for your order is taken from your Sharesies Wallet in Australian dollars (AUD). We recommend setting up an automatic payment from your bank account to land in your Wallet the day before your auto-invest is due to go out.
Trade settlement
Once your order fills, it becomes a ‘trade’ and needs to ‘settle’. Settlement is when the legal ownership of shares is officially transferred from one shareholder to another.
Settlement dates are commonly described as T+1, T+2, T+3, and so on. ‘T’ stands for ‘trade date’ (the date your order fills), and the number indicates how many business days the trade will take to settle. Australian and NZ trades take two business days, while US trades take one business day.
To settle a trade, the associated money and shares go through an intermediary. Australian and US trades are settled with a broker dealer (CMC Markets in Australia and DriveWealth in the US). While NZ trades are settled through the NZX Clearing House. Once the intermediary receives the cash and the shares, they pass them on to the buyer and seller, and the trade is considered settled.
You don’t need to do anything during this process. You can check the settlement status of your trade by going to Wallet > Transaction history and selecting your order.
If you have any questions, get in touch with us at help@sharesies.com.au.