I was just wondering if the reason for sell offs of the past few days has anything to do with the fact that it is not only month end today, but the end of what has been a brutal quarter.

July and August were brutal months because of the market crash due to the so called sub prime crisis.  I just saw this as a sale of all things good and bought up like mad.  But that's another story.

Regardless, we know that a lot of large money brokers lost some huge equity during this quarter as they were forced to sell off shares to cover margin as the hole market plummetted.

My question for anyone who has worked as a broker:

When calculating your brokers stats, quarterly month end stats, bonuses, ... does a stock have to be sold to be part of the stat or a person's bonus, or does the appreciation of that stock (let's say from .40 cents to $4.08) be enough to make the bosses happy?

I am guessing the former as money is not in the pocket until the shares are actually sold, but I wanted to find out how a month or quarter end could impact trading activity.

Thanks,

M1.