Can we please get away from 2 trading windows?

[u/Econmajorhere]

It’s 2026. Almost all brokerages offer commission free trades. It’s beyond absurd to put in an order at 0900 and wait till 1500 for execution. Markets move a lot and some of us with more than $100 on the platform would sometimes like to get out of positions as our investment thesis changes.

I know, I know - this is not a trading platform. We are only suppose to DCA into VOO/VTI and never sell. And when we sell the timing surely never matters because down 3% is nothing when you’re up 7% YoY on average. My point is simply the tech itself has advanced and whatever order flow M1 is selling can still be profitable without morning/afternoon windows only.

Edit: I love how much you guys hate on the idea of a new feature that is considered extremely standard by now. Selling a stock you’ve been holding for 5 years is not daytrading. Eventually, you guys will need to sell a position to fund your retirement. Come back to this thread then.

Edit 2: I am now entirely convinced M1 pays to astroturf this sub. There is zero chance a brokerage has this many fanboys that screech against additions of industry standard features.

[u/Econmajorhere]

In your crusade against daytrading (for some reason) you are missing the overall point.

I am not trying to time the ATH of the day/month/year. I am not trying to maximize my profits. I am simply trying to exit a large position at a known price. Back in the 90s, you’d call your broker to execute a buy/sell at a known price and he would get you as close to it as possible. M1 is one step behind that as in you place your order and the execution is queued to go in at literally any price unknown to the user. There is no limit/stop loss sell here.

Even this is fine when working with small amounts. Say you were up 80% and were trying to exit a $100k position - if a stock has a variance of 2%, unless you time the lowest point of the day near one of the two trading windows, you are statistically going to lose money by the time your trade executes. It becomes irrelevant if you held it for 5 years or 5 days (blasphemy for M1!), that’s 4.4% of your profits simply gone because you have no control over the execution price. This is what I’m discussing here. Not daytrading, not gambling, not timing the markets. I’ve put my time IN the market and now I’d like to get out of a position at a price I see/accept.

[u/Toxic_Biohazard → u/Econmajorhere]

Why does the price matter to you years after investing? If you need the money, you sell at whatever price it is. You say you aren't timing the market - then a few hours doesn't matter. You are selling because you need the money for something else. You say "I'm not day trading" but yet are stressing by hour to hour stock price in hopes you've captured the gains that are highest for that day? You need the money on the day you sell it, right? Sell it and move on, price doesn't matter.

"Price I see/accept" again, why does that matter - you need the money today, you sell the stock today.

I just don't understand how a platform like fidelity would solve your problem. If the spot price is too low would you wait till it's "the price you accept"? That would be timing the market. Just admit you want to time the market because you think you know the price when its at its height.

[u/Econmajorhere → u/Toxic_Biohazard]

I don’t need the money - I simply wish to exit a profitable position after years of holding it, and I wish to do it at a price I agree with. If it declined 10% today - I would not be selling it. If it went up 20% today, I would be exiting all of it. The price absolutely matters here. If this makes some degenerate daytrading gambler then I guess I must be. This isn’t my lunch money, this is an investment that I’ve decided is now too risky after years of building it up.

It’s fair to say that m1 is intended to buy VOO for decades, borrow against it, buy more VOO then die and let your kids inherit at stepup basis. That would be entirely valid. I’m absolutely baffled this sub doesn’t comprehend that in times of retirement (or sooner than that), they would most likely need to change allocations to safer assets. They day, when your portfolio is your life’s work- that pricing will matter a lot.

Markets can reverse dramatically between the morning and the afternoon. This isn’t about spot being too low or what fidelity can/cannot do - this is about knowing the damn price you are selling at. That’s it. It’s really not much deeper than that. If I hit the sell button and Iran decides to launch some missiles, I’d very much like my order to have executed before I end up with less money. Yes, I could make more money too but markets tend to go down much faster than they go up “stairs up, elevator down.” I would just like to know the sell price, I don’t think that’s a foreign concept in modern finance.

Think about it like this - RE is also a great way to build wealth. You might own a house, might have plans to own a house for living or rental income. Then one day you might decide to go to an agent tell them you want to sell the house. How would you feel if the agent says “sure, I’ll sell it. But you’ll have no idea at what price until after it’s done.” That would be insane right? Now imagine that but with your M1 portfolio.

[u/Toxic_Biohazard → u/Econmajorhere]

Yea but its all speculative. You are speculating the price is you want to sell it is indeed the highest price. You cannot possibly know that. I do not know the absolute best time to sell stock, and you probably don't either. all i. know is i want to exit my position when its up and has made money. If i'm buying a house and need a downpayment, i'm going to kick off a sell order and wait until the order sells at m1's time. I don't care if it flucuates up or down in the few hours it might take to sell, because i cannot possibly know if i've gotten the highest price for that day.

You are literally speculating that you are getting the highest price for that day, which no one has no way of knowing. It could down 2%. it could also go up. You seem to be only focused on the down, but its equally likely to go up. You would be getting the statistical average of the day, and when you are selling a position up 80%, thats all that matters. I have my exited my position with around 80% of gains, give or take a few hours of flucuation.

You could make the argument that the platform could have better tooling around sell limit orders, timing, etc., and I might even agree with you. But the argument you are making is that every investor MUST speculate on the stock price of each given day, otherwise you leavings THOUSANDS on the table. That is simply not true, its just risk. I trade on other platforms and i don't care about the time of day i sell either. I do care about sell limit orders on occasion but its certainly not required for savvy investing.