To sell stock through an online brokerage, log into your account, find the position you want to sell, open a trade ticket, choose an order type, and submit. The trade fills in seconds during market hours, but the cash settles one business day later under the T+1 rule, and any profit is taxable. The clicks are the easy part. The decisions worth slowing down for are which shares to sell, what order type to use, and what the sale will cost you at tax time.
What to Check Before You Open a Trade Ticket
Pull up the ticker symbol for the stock in your brokerage’s portfolio view and confirm the share count, including any fractional shares from a dividend reinvestment plan. Whatever the account shows is what you can sell.
The bigger decision is which shares to sell if you bought the same stock more than once. Each purchase created a separate tax lot with its own cost basis (what you originally paid, including purchase fees) and its own holding period. Most brokerages default to first-in, first-out, meaning your oldest shares go first, unless you specifically identify a different lot.1Internal Revenue Service. Publication 551, Basis of Assets That default can cost you money. Selecting a higher-cost lot can shrink your taxable gain, or even create a loss you can use elsewhere on your return. Make the choice on the order ticket, not after the fact.
Picking an Order Type
The order type controls the price you get and whether the sale happens at all.
- A market order sells immediately at the best available price. Execution is guaranteed; the exact price is not, and in fast-moving markets the fill can differ from the quote you saw.2FINRA. Order Types
- A limit order sells only at your specified price or higher. If the market never reaches your price, the order sits unfilled.2FINRA. Order Types
- A stop order sits below the current price and converts to a market order once the stock drops to your trigger. It’s how investors cap losses on a position that turns against them.2FINRA. Order Types
- A trailing stop works the same way, but the trigger moves up automatically as the stock rises (set by a dollar amount or a percentage). The trigger never moves down, so a reversal eventually trips the sale and locks in gains along the way.
Every order also needs a duration. A day order expires at the close of the session if it hasn’t filled. A good-til-canceled (GTC) order stays live until it fills or you cancel it, which is usually the better choice for limit and stop orders so you’re not re-entering the same instructions each morning.2FINRA. Order Types
A note on timing: most brokerages let you place sell orders in pre-market and after-hours sessions, but volume is thin, bid-ask spreads widen, and prices swing more per trade. Many extended-hours systems only accept limit orders, and the after-hours price often doesn’t match where the stock opens the next morning.3U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. After-Hours Trading: Understanding the Risks Unless you have a specific reason to sell outside regular hours, wait for the 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET session.
Placing the Sale
Open the position in your brokerage and click Sell. The trade ticket asks for the number of shares, the order type, a limit or stop price if applicable, and the duration. Confirm the ticker before you submit; selling the wrong position is easy to do and hard to undo.
The platform then shows a review screen with estimated proceeds, the order type, and any fees. Most major brokerages charge zero commissions on stock trades, so what you’ll see is limited to the small regulatory fees below. Submit, and you’ll get a confirmation number. Watch the order status move from pending to filled, especially on limit and stop orders that may sit open.
The Small Fees You’ll Still Pay
Two regulatory fees apply on every sale even when commissions are zero. The SEC collects a transaction fee under Section 31 of the Securities Exchange Act, currently $20.60 per million dollars of sale proceeds, which comes out to about 21 cents on a $10,000 sale.4U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Section 31 Transaction Fee Rate Advisory for Fiscal Year 2026 FINRA’s Trading Activity Fee runs $0.000195 per share, capped at $9.79 per trade, which is roughly two cents on a 100-share sale.5FINRA. FINRA Fee Adjustment Schedule Both show up on your confirmation.
When the Money Actually Arrives
The cash from your sale doesn’t land as spendable money the instant the order fills. Under SEC Rule 15c6-1, equity trades settle on a T+1 basis, meaning one business day after the trade.6U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Shortening the Securities Transaction Settlement Cycle – A Small Entity Compliance Guide Sell Monday, settle Tuesday. Sell Friday, settle Monday. During that window, the money shows as unsettled cash.
Most brokerages let you use unsettled proceeds to buy something else right away, but there’s a trap. If you buy a new stock with unsettled cash and then sell that new stock before the original sale settles, you commit a good-faith violation. Three of those in 12 months in a cash account typically brings a 90-day restriction where you can only buy with fully settled funds.
Active traders face a separate rule. Make four or more day trades (buying and selling the same stock the same day) within five business days, if those trades are more than 6 percent of your total trades in that period, and your broker flags you as a pattern day trader. That requires keeping at least $25,000 in your margin account at all times; drop below, and the account is frozen for day trading until you refund it.7FINRA. Day Trading
Getting the Cash to Your Bank
Once settlement is complete, go to the transfer or withdrawal section of your brokerage, pick your linked bank account, and enter an amount. An ACH transfer usually takes one to three business days. A wire transfer often arrives the same day but costs $20 to $30 at most brokerages. ACH is the default unless you need the money urgently.
What You’ll Owe in Tax
Every stock sale is a taxable event. Whether you owe depends on whether you sold above or below your cost basis, and how long you held the shares.
Short-Term Versus Long-Term
Hold the stock a year or less, and any profit is a short-term capital gain taxed at your ordinary income rate, which for 2026 ranges from 10 percent to 37 percent. Hold it more than a year, and the profit is a long-term capital gain taxed at 0, 15, or 20 percent depending on your income.8Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 409, Capital Gains and Losses The gap between the two treatments is wide enough that pushing a sale past the one-year mark can meaningfully cut your tax.
The 3.8 Percent Surtax
Higher earners pay an additional 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Tax on top of the regular capital gains rate if modified adjusted gross income exceeds $200,000 for single filers or $250,000 for married couples filing jointly.9Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 559, Net Investment Income Tax Those thresholds don’t adjust for inflation, so more taxpayers cross them each year, and a single large sale can push you over.
When You Sell at a Loss
Capital losses offset capital gains dollar for dollar. If losses exceed gains for the year, you can deduct up to $3,000 of the excess against ordinary income ($1,500 if married filing separately), with anything left carrying forward indefinitely to future tax years. This is where lot selection pays off: choosing a higher-cost lot to harvest a loss can offset gains elsewhere in your portfolio.
State Tax
Most states tax capital gains as ordinary income, at rates from roughly 3 percent to more than 13 percent. A few states have no income tax at all. Check your state’s rules before selling a large position, because the combined federal and state bill can be substantially higher than the federal number alone.
The Form You’ll Receive
After year-end, your brokerage sends a Form 1099-B reporting proceeds from every sale, plus cost basis for shares purchased after 2011. The IRS gets the same copy. If you used specific lot identification, confirm the 1099-B shows the basis you intended. A mismatch between your return and the 1099-B is one of the more common audit triggers for investment income.
The Wash Sale Trap
If you sold at a loss, mind the wash sale rule before you buy anything similar back. Sell a stock at a loss and buy the same or a substantially identical security within 30 days before or after the sale, and the IRS disallows the loss on your return.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 1091 – Loss From Wash Sales of Stock or Securities The window runs in both directions, giving you a 61-day blackout around the sale date. It applies across year-end too: sell on December 15, rebuy on January 4, and it still triggers.
The disallowed loss isn’t lost for good. It gets added to the cost basis of the replacement shares, so you recover the tax benefit when you eventually sell those.11Internal Revenue Service. Case Study 1: Wash Sales But if you were counting on the loss to offset this year’s gains, you’re out of luck. The rule catches people accidentally, especially through automatic dividend reinvestment or overlapping holdings in another account.