How to Sell Stock Without a Broker

Transfer stock in lieu of cash donations to any charity you are gifting. Besides the tax advantage of giving appreciated stock to a charity, most brokerage houses charge charities little or nothing for gifted stock. If the stock is in physical form, merely sign the transfer power on the back of the certificate. For stock held by the broker, the charity will have instructions for you to follow.
Find a buyer for your stock---a family friend, neighbor or relative. It will be necessary to contact the transfer agent to have the stock transferred into the purchasing party's name. Use the stock price as of a certain date as the trade date, so there will be no disagreement among the parties as to the trade amount. Be certain there are no dividend payments pending, and if so, they should be paid to the selling party.
Use DRIP programs where possible. DRIP or dividend reinvestment plans allow you to buy as little as one share of stock from a participating member or a broker and then arrange for all dividends to be paid in the form of additional shares. Not all stocks have such a program, but the stocks that do tend to be large dividend-paying stocks. Shares can then be sold to plan participants, allowing the investor to pay no commissions for either buying or selling stock.
When making large purchases, use stock and sign the stock over to the buyer. He can sell the stock at his expense when he is ready. You avoid the commission and the buyer receives secure funds through ownership of the stock certificate.
Sell stock through an in-the-money covered call. This means writing an option below the current stock price. The premium paid by the call buyer to you, the seller, will more than cover the commissions for the option and the stock sale. This is a popular method used by large institutions to move large quantities of stock.

How to Calculate Stock Averages

Add the total value of stock purchased on each stock ticket. This should be on your statement or ticket. If you don't have this, take the number of shares and multiply this to the price paid per share. For example, if you purchased 100 shares of XYZ stock at $15 per share, this would be $1500.
Add the total value of each purchase together. Assume you bought XYZ three times, each time purchasing 100 shares. You paid the following prices: $15, $10, $12. You would then have spent: $1500 + $1000 + $1200 = $3700.
Add the total number of shares you have purchased. For example if you bought 100 shares of XYZ stock three times, then you would have 300 shares total.
Divide the total dollar value spent by the total shares purchased: $3700/300 = $12.33/ per share.
You might need to consider the cost per transaction paid. If you are paying a commission for buying the stock, then add the commission price into the total amount spent before dividing it by the total number of shares. If you want to know your break-even price, add the estimated sales commission to the total dollar value as well. For example, if you spent $8 for each of the three trades, then: $3700 + $8 + $8 + $8 = $3724 for the total purchase price. If you will spend $8 on the sale, then your total would be $3732 / 300 shares = $12.44 for your break-even price.

How to Buy Stock Options (5 Steps)

Understand the different type of options that are available. The two main types of options are puts and calls. Puts give the buyer an option to sell the underlying stock at a certain price during a given period. Calls allow the buyer of the option the ability to buy the underlying stock at a certain price in a given period.
Track and research the performance of the underlying stock. If, after the research, you expect the stock to rise in price, you should consider purchasing a call stock option. However if you expect the stock price to fall, the put stock option is the correct purchase. There are many permutations of these basic options principles, but these are the trading options for beginners. In the option business, they call this directional trading.
When you see, call or put a price of $2.00, the cost of this option is not $2.00 but $200.00. This is because stock options sell in lots of 100 share options. This is a common mistake for beginning options investors.
Decide which stock option you want to purchase and if you want a put or call option on the underlying stock. Again, a put is option to sell and a call is option to buy the underlying stock. You will need to contact a broker or visit an online option-trading site to place the order. See Resources below for information.
Buy the stock options for the given market price. Be sure to check the strike date of the option. The strike date is when the option expires. If you do not exercise by this date, it expires and you lose your investment. It is usually a good idea buy to stock options with the latest strike date. However, sometimes the stock option will be cheaper the closer it is to the strike date. Despite being cheaper, these short strike dates carry more risk.

Stock Certificate Instructions

Obtain a blank corporate stock certificate. Find this in your Articles of Incorporation Book or through computer templates.
Fill out the front of the stock certificate with the company name and address. If the certificate was obtained from your incorporation book, this should already be printed.
Fill in the name and address of the person purchasing the stock with the number of shares they are buying.
Have two corporate officers sign the stock certificate.
Emboss the certificate in the indicated area for the corporate seal. The corporate seal should be with your incorporation book. It is a type of stamp created specifically for your corporation.
Log the stock certificate number located in the upper right corner into the corporate ledger. Include the name and number of shares purchased and the price. This officially tracks stock purchases in private companies.