How to Sell Stock After the IPO (4 Steps)

Speak to the company's CFO or a finance executive about your current shares. The CFO or financial executive should be able to tell you what you have and the value of your stock in the company.
Determine when you are able to sell your shares. In some cases, you cannot sell your shares immediately following an IPO. This depends on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and your company's policy on individual shares. This delay is typically called a 'holdout period' or 'lockout period.'
Discuss the options you have to sell the stock with your company's financial manager. Do you need to go through a specific broker or firm? If so, contact that broker to sell your stock. Obtain your certificate for the amount of shares you own.
Bring your stock certificate to your bank and ask for the investment officer. Ask the investment officer to sell the stock at the current price. The value of the stock will be returned to you, usually within three days.

How to Buy Stock in Twitter

Check into the websites SharesPost.com and SecondMarket.com. These companies have recently emerged as private stock exchanges for members of private companies who want to sell some of their shares before going public. According to Fox News, 'These exchanges give stakeholders an alternative way to trade their shares in hot startups like Facebook for cold, hard cash --- without having to wait years for an IPO.' Some private companies give their employees shares in order to compensate for an initial inability to pay higher salaries. This option gives those employees a way to see some money more quickly (See References 1).
Do your research on the trends of this type of stock. Will Twitter continue to take off or is it a trend that will soon fade away? It's particularly important to carefully weigh your options if you're considering buying Twitter shares before they go public, since buying through private stock exchanges means buying whole blocks at once. Writer MHB for TheDomains.com explains, 'I'm talking about 60,000 shares at $31 a share comes to an almost $1.9 million dollar investment; no small amount of change.' In other words, if you want to buy stock in Twitter before it goes public, you should be confident in your investment (See References 2).
Register with one of the private stock exchanges. Once you create a profile, you'll be able to see how much other people have paid for shares of Twitter and other privately-owned stocks. Most of these companies also provide you with a report on the company and their current value. It's important to remember that you won't be able to sell your shares until the company goes public, which means you may be sitting on these shares for months or years, in which time the market may shift. 'You might therefore be buying restricted stock for the same price or less than free trading stock is selling for once the company goes public.On the other hand, if you find a hot startup, and get in early, you might make a huge pop down the line if you have the cash to tie up for a while,' says MHB of TheDomains.com. Since the investment is so big, it's important to discuss your decisions with financial advisors before moving forward with the purchase of a block of stocks (See References 2).