buying and selling same stock

[and3008]

Let's say I buy a stock one day. A few days later I buy some more. A few days later I want to sell a few shares of that same stock. Which shares get sold? The first ones or the second? Is this also vulnerable to a wash sale?

Thank you.

[Fredledingue]

It doesn't matter which share are sold.
You buy 100: You have 100 shares.
The next day you buy another 50 shares: You have 150 shares
The third day you sell 40 shares: You have 110 shares
and so on

It's like john is going to the market and buy 3 apples, he goes to another stall and buy 5 more apples, he give 2 apple to his girlfriend: How many apples remain in his basket?

[and3008]

So... if I bought 100 shares & paid $3.00 for the first batch of stocks, then on the 2nd day I paid $4.00 for another 100 shares. On the 3rd day I sold 50 shares at $4.50. If they sell out of the second batch I would have made .50 a share profit, but if they sell out of the first batch, I would have made 1.50 a share. Clear as mud right?

[Stocktrading101]

Clear as mud .

Your profit on the first 100 shares would be $1.50 and your profit on the second 100 shares would be $.50.

[kk567]

actually, i got a similar question. Can we actually sell specific shares of stock (just like mutual fund)??
It is not simply about cost/share. My concern is more about paying tax. If i bought 100 shares of company A on Jan 15th of 2006, and hold on to it; and then i bought another 40 shares of the same company on Oct 15th of 2007. And let say i want to sell some shares today, so in order to have lower tax bracket, i would want to pick the older shares to sell (because i hold on to it for more than 1 year), can we actually sell specific shares for stock??
i looked into my brokeage account, doesn't seem to allow us to do that.

appreciate anyone that can explain more in details!