Author Topic: Time of day to purchase Vanguard  (Read 1452 times)

joenorm

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Time of day to purchase Vanguard
« on: January 24, 2022, 09:30:07 AM »
I logged into my VG account this morning to purchase more VTSAX as it falls lower and was surprised to see my account has not been updated since last Friday.

I'm sure this is not news to most people here but I am rarely paying attention to daily swings in the market, so excuse my ignorance.

The idea was to purchase on today's(Monday) low price. If I purchase right now(morning) will I achieve this? Or do I have to wait until later when prices update?

Thanks!




dividendman

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Re: Time of day to purchase Vanguard
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2022, 09:34:40 AM »
I logged into my VG account this morning to purchase more VTSAX as it falls lower and was surprised to see my account has not been updated since last Friday.

I'm sure this is not news to most people here but I am rarely paying attention to daily swings in the market, so excuse my ignorance.

The idea was to purchase on today's(Monday) low price. If I purchase right now(morning) will I achieve this? Or do I have to wait until later when prices update?

Thanks!

I don't have a Vanguard account, but my assumption is, like most mutual fund holdings, all trades are settled at the end of the trading day. There is no intra-day trading. So, if you put in a purchase now, it will happen on the market close price today.

Similarly, your account balance won't update until the end of market each day.

If you want to trade during the day (which I don't recommend), then you want the ETF equivalents of the funds you're holding.

JJ-

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Re: Time of day to purchase Vanguard
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2022, 09:45:11 AM »
I logged into my VG account this morning to purchase more VTSAX as it falls lower and was surprised to see my account has not been updated since last Friday.

I'm sure this is not news to most people here but I am rarely paying attention to daily swings in the market, so excuse my ignorance.

The idea was to purchase on today's(Monday) low price. If I purchase right now(morning) will I achieve this? Or do I have to wait until later when prices update?

Thanks!

I don't have a Vanguard account, but my assumption is, like most mutual fund holdings, all trades are settled at the end of the trading day. There is no intra-day trading. So, if you put in a purchase now, it will happen on the market close price today.

Similarly, your account balance won't update until the end of market each day.

This is correct.

If you want to trade during the day (which I don't recommend), then you want the ETF equivalents of the funds you're holding.

This opinion / recommendation has several downsides and I don't personally agree with it follow it. However it has advantages in its simplicity.
« Last Edit: January 24, 2022, 09:47:31 AM by JJ- »

Jack0Life

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Re: Time of day to purchase Vanguard
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2022, 10:11:06 AM »
Mutual Funds transactions will take place at end of day closing price.

secondcor521

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Re: Time of day to purchase Vanguard
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2022, 10:55:19 AM »
Yup.

At Vanguard, any MF trade you place before today at 4pm Eastern time will be executed at today's closing price.

VTSAX is only priced daily at the close, and all trades (buy or sell) execute at that daily NAV.

VTSAX's price is usually updated by about two hours after the close on their website.

Transactions submitted today will be updated in your account sometime overnight - I've never pinned down exactly when because I don't really care.

Once VTSAX transactions are put in at Vanguard, they cannot be canceled.  So if you're not busy you could wait for another few hours if the additional market action might impact your purchase decision.

markpst

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Re: Time of day to purchase Vanguard
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2022, 12:28:29 PM »
Take a look at VTI (Vanguard Total Market ETF). If you don't understand ETF's, do a quick internet search on them. If you want to have your trade executed mid-day, this is what you need to buy. It is basically the same thing.

ETF's trade like stocks - if you have $3,000 to spend, you have to figure out how many shares you can buy at the current bid price, then put in an order to buy the shares.

It may be helpful to search "VTI vs. VTSAX".

MustacheAndaHalf

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Re: Time of day to purchase Vanguard
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2022, 06:19:21 AM »
Wanted to point out if you like lower expense ratios, VTI is 0.03% versus VTSAX 0.04%.

If you want to switch brokerages, keeping Vanguard mutual funds are a bad idea.  The costs of buying or selling are staggering, while for ETFs the cost is usually zero.

If you go the ETF route, you can also buy ITOT (iShares Total Market) instead of VTI for the same expense ratio.  There's more choices when investing in ETFs.

waltworks

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Re: Time of day to purchase Vanguard
« Reply #7 on: January 25, 2022, 07:14:58 AM »
From an investor psychology point of view, trying to jump in/out for intraday highs or lows is a very bad idea. One of the advantages of mutual funds for probably 95% of investors is that they allow automatic/periodic investment (just stick in some $ every friday) and that they don't work well (or at all) for trading minute to minute.

So rather than worry about when your trade will close, stop watching the market so closely and invest according to your chosen AA. Future you will thank you.

-W

cool7hand

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Re: Time of day to purchase Vanguard
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2022, 08:05:28 AM »
From an investor psychology point of view, trying to jump in/out for intraday highs or lows is a very bad idea. One of the advantages of mutual funds for probably 95% of investors is that they allow automatic/periodic investment (just stick in some $ every friday) and that they don't work well (or at all) for trading minute to minute.

So rather than worry about when your trade will close, stop watching the market so closely and invest according to your chosen AA. Future you will thank you.

-W
+1. I'm late to the party and wanted to share the above sentiment.

joenorm

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Re: Time of day to purchase Vanguard
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2022, 10:56:38 AM »
From an investor psychology point of view, trying to jump in/out for intraday highs or lows is a very bad idea. One of the advantages of mutual funds for probably 95% of investors is that they allow automatic/periodic investment (just stick in some $ every friday) and that they don't work well (or at all) for trading minute to minute.

So rather than worry about when your trade will close, stop watching the market so closely and invest according to your chosen AA. Future you will thank you.

-W

This is how I typically operate, hence not even knowing how to time things daily. But it just so happens I have a little chunk I have been thinking about tossing in the market(debating this over building/real estate) and it coincided with a little dip. So why not try to capture the dip it if possible? Again, not watching things too close and do have a weekly auto-invest set up. Thanks