Vhootee mitra, I am pretty sure you can sell the stocks you own (I am assuming it is part of stock option from your company?). You should be able to do with any online brokeage like scottrade etc. I haven't done it myself but if anyone has, do let us know. From the yahoo page, Last Trade, Change % and Volume really do mean what you probably think they do. Last trade is the last price of the stock for that company before the market closed for that day (or if you look at that number during the day, it will be the most recent price for that stock sold or bought). Change % simply means total change in the price from the beginning of the trading day to the end. Volume is the total number of shares that got traded on that particular day (both bought and sold). But don't get too caught up in these figures and %. When you get a chance try to read this book "Intelligent Investor". It will help you think talk walk look and smell like an investor :-) Well not literally...but you get the point. About sending your check to the broker, you are correct. It is just like buying goods from your savings account, so when you have money there you can buy more when you don't, you either despoiste more or sell one of your stocks and use that money to buy something else. So, do you have a stock in mind that you are interested in buying?