Questions and answers Q: What are securities? A: Securities are the following instruments: shares of trading (commercial) companies bonds money market instruments stocks and shares of investment funds that are operating under the Law on investment funds derivative financial instruments – options and futures foreign securities certificates other financial instruments that are considered as securities by the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Republic of Macedonia   Q: What kind of securities there are? A: There are credit (debit) securities and proprietary securities. Credit securities are the bills of exchange, bonds, commercial bills, deposit certificates, while, the shares are proprietary securities. Q: What shares are? A: Shares are proprietary securities that are indivisible and ideal part of the principal amount of the joint stock company, they provide their owner with a proportional share in the company’s property. The liability of the shares owner for the assets and debts of the joint stock company is restricted only up to the amount of the value of his shares. Shares can be common and preference shares. Common shares are voting shares in the processes of making decisions for the enterprise operations, while preference shares are non-voting, but they have a priority in dividend payment. Q: What bonds are? A: Bonds are debit securities that oblige the one who issues them to pay out the amount on the annuity coupon to the bearer bond at the appointed day, or the face value if the payment is done on one occasion. Q: What can I do with the securities that I own? A: Referring to shares, there are two possibilities, to sell them or to keep them and possess the rights that they provide ( voting right on the assemblies, dividend, right to participate in the liquidation estate). As regarding to the debit securities, you could wait until their maturity date and to obtain an interest or you could sell them on the stock exchange market. Q: What the stock exchange represents? A: Stock exchange is a market institution, related to an exactly fixed location, where the standardized market material (capital, money, goods, and financial derivates) is an object of trade, under strictly established trading rules. Q: What types of exchange there are? A: Financial exchange – trading with money, shares, bonds, bills… Goods exchange – trading with standardized contracts for goods. Mixed exchange – trading with all aforementioned.   Q: What a broker is and why do I need a broker? A: A Broker is a mediator in trading with securities and on the stock exchange, he can be: agent (representative) trading on the behalf of his clients and for the account of his clients;; commission agent trading on his behalf, and for the account of his clients; Everyone who would like to sell or purchase securities on the stock exchange has to engage a broker as his agent in the execution of his orders for selling and purchasing securities. Q: How can I sell the securities I own? A: Above all, you have to engage a broker as your mediator on the stock exchange. With a contract, you authorize the broker to give orders for selling in your name on the financial market. Your broker should check if you are the real owner of the securities that are an object of sell. When the trade is complete, the buyer of securities pays in money on the open account in the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia that belongs to the brokerage house. The third workday after the completed trade, the amount for the sold securities is paid out on your account. The brokerage fee should be paid to the broker when the payment is made. If you are shareholder and you would like to sell your shares, there are still some conditions that do not depend on you but ought to be accomplished. The company that has issued the shares you own has to be listed on the stock exchange, which means that there, has already been trading with its shares. If this condition is fulfilled then you have to wait for the auction date of the aforementioned company and in that period to give a selling order to your broker so, he can sell your shares. The auction date for a certain company and the further calendar of the auctions are given by the stock exchange bodies. If the company is not listed on the stock exchange, you have to wait for its first auction, of which your broker will notify you or you will be informed by the media on time. Q: What does it happens when I do not want to sell the securities I own below certain price? A: Entering into contract with your broker, you gain a possibility to give him orders for selling and purchasing securities on the stock exchange. There are several types of orders for selling and purchasing securities, and all of them protect your interests in the trading, in a certain way. If there is a certain price that you do not want to sell your securities less than it, then with your broker’s assistance you will make a selling limit order on the aforementioned price. In that case, your securities will be sold only for that or higher price, excluding the prices below it. Referring to the purchasing limit order, you will become a proprietor of the desired securities for the précised price in the order or a lower price. The third category of orders is the order that authorizes your broker to sell or purchase desired securities for a market price set on the stock exchange. You can also decide about the duration of your orders. You can give one-day order to your broker, or order until revoking, with duration until you withdraw (revoke) it.