Get Started in Shares

chapter 4

What do stockbrokers do?

With an evening coat and a white tie, anybody, even a stockbroker, can gain a reputation for being civilized.

Oscar Wilde

Stockbrokers perform a very simple role – they help investors to carry out a trade. It would be very intimidating and time-consuming if, when you wanted to buy or sell some shares, you had to traipse along to a stock exchange to find another investor willing to transact with you. Even with telephones and internet technology there are good reasons for not encouraging a large volume of investor-to-investor dealing – it is difficult to get all the legal and technical elements right. To avoid inexperienced and ill-equipped traders gumming up the smooth running of the markets the London ...