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If a company goes public on say 01/22/2021 shouldn’t I be able to purchase shares from this company?

Specifically I was trying to buy shares of UWMC (United Wholesale Mortgage Company). However, my brokerage firm (Fidelity) does not recognize the symbol UWMC even though when I enter it in it shows up correctly.

It’s when I preview my order right before submitting it where it errors out. It states that the symbol may have been entered incorrectly or cannot be found. This even though if you search for this symbol on fidelity finds the company exactly.

Is this normal for companies that just go public that it takes time for companies like Fidelity to register their stock symbol? Seems kind of odd.

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    It's apparently been public since late March 2020. Last week is when it entered the NYSE. Have you asked Fidelity (though they're closed now)?
    – RonJohn
    Jan 25, 2021 at 5:34
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    Is HWMC a typo?
    – Bob Baerker
    Jan 25, 2021 at 12:25
  • Sorry its UWMC not H
    – JonH
    Jan 25, 2021 at 13:46

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It's not uncommon for brokerage firms to have delays in adding new listings and making them available for trading. This occurs most commonly when a stock begins trading on the OTC BB market before getting its official listing on a major exchange such as the NYSE. To a lesser degree, it also happens with smaller offbeat SPAC mergers. To rectify this, you need to call your broker's trading desk. If the security is trading, they'll usually add the issue to their platform within a day.

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  • Accepted - I still think this is really bad in terms of for the company and the stock holders and the possible people who want to hold stock. If a company goes public the brokerage firms should ensure the stock is available for folks to purchase. If I am any brokerage company and I know someone is going public say on Friday, on Thursday at 11:59:59 I better have something that adds this symbol to stock traders so that come friday I can buy this stock.
    – JonH
    Jan 25, 2021 at 17:53
  • Sometimes the wheels of justice turn slowly. You're right, it shouldn't be that way but it is what it is. I can somewhat understand the delay with a Grey Market issue getting its listing on a major exchange (perhaps intraday) but it shouldn't happen with a merger of stocks that already trade on major exchanges.
    – Bob Baerker
    Jan 25, 2021 at 17:58
  • I agree maybe this is just an issue with fidelity, that is who I am using, in any event it shows me as a software manager that even the real big names have issues with data :-). Thanks again
    – JonH
    Jan 25, 2021 at 18:14
  • No, it's not just an issue with Fidelity. I read a oriented BB where the focus is on preferred stocks and other income securities. This issue has occurred many times with Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, Ameritrade, E*Trade, Scottrade (some now merged) or others. You just have to call the trading desk if it happens to you and more often than not, it's rectified within a day.
    – Bob Baerker
    Jan 25, 2021 at 18:24
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This was a SPAC deal. The SPAC traded as 'GHIV', Gores Acquisition IV, while the SPAC managers looked for a deal. They then announced the deal to acquire United Wholesale. Weeks/months later, the acquisition deal was consummated, which is reported in the media as an IPO for privately-held United. A little later, the stock ticker changed from 'GHIV' to 'UWMC', which is just a name change by the Gores company.

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