Limit Orders June 7, 2013 Oh, God, oh God. One of you must have put in an order to buy BOREF yesterday morning without a limit, so it jumped from $8.63 to $11 on, like, 500 shares. I usually remember to say, “on thinly traded stocks, let alone one as thinly traded as this, be sure to use limit orders!” Forgot this time. Not that it much matters in this case: Two years from now, if the shares are $100, you’ll be quite pleased you snagged yours at $11. And if they’re 30 cents, your percentage loss will have been pretty much the same. Still, mea culpa for not reminding everyone: with a thinly traded stock — and few are more thinly traded than this one — always use “limit orders.” (With a limit order, you tell your broker — or click the appropriate boxes on his trading screen — that you want to buy 100 shares, say, but only at a price of $9 or better. If you set the limit too low, you may not get the shares right away, or ever. But neither will you find yourself involuntarily gouged. Similarly, with a limit sell order, the broker will only accept a price for you equal to or higher than the one you set. If you set the limit too high, you may not make the sale right away, or ever. But neither will you find yourself robbed. ) As it happens, more shares were traded as the day went on and the stock closed at $11 and change. But it was fewer than 4,000 shares that drove this 28% gain . . . so imagine if someone tried to sell 4,000 shares today. The gain could vanish. Let’s see where it is two years from now. SPEC-ULATION M.: “Just wanted to say thanks. I got fitted for new spectacles and bought a pair from a national chain. Cost: close to $400. As a backup (I have kids, who break things) I went to Warby Parker, per your post. Total cost: $125. The $400 pair are now my backups and I can’t believe the quality, speed to fill (faster than the national chain by 4 days) and the low cost. Not to mention the fact that another pair was donated to someone in need. These guys will be my go-to from now on.” SODA I hope they go much higher, but now that SODA LEAPS have more than doubled in the two months we’ve owned them, this is a reminder to sell half, if you haven’t already, so that from now on — as they say in Las Vegas — you are playing with the house’s money.