You get shares on a Monday, you can sell them next day on the Tuesday.
You get shares on a Friday, you can sell them next trading day on the Monday.
You get shares on a Friday before a Monday public Holiday, you can sell them next trading day on the Tuesday.
Of course there could be exceptions, but that's how it generally works, and basically locks you in from the time of allotment till the time the market opens. So the risk you have is of calamitous events happening during that time - Black Monday or something like that, but otherwise it would be rare for markets (company stock) to fall 15% and the entire ESPP allocation to be a net loss.
Yeah basically it's 15% worse case if your company stock is on a consistent downward or sideways trajectory. And 15%+ is the stock is generally rising.
There is always a small black-swan chance I guess. In all the places I've worked, the shares are purchased at the close of the trading day and available to sell by the next morning.
Yeah, and black swan is going to happen only once in a while if you do this for five years, maybe once you loose more than 15%, but other times you'll make money
The multi-day period is usually "1" trading day.
You get shares on a Monday, you can sell them next day on the Tuesday.
You get shares on a Friday, you can sell them next trading day on the Monday.
You get shares on a Friday before a Monday public Holiday, you can sell them next trading day on the Tuesday.
Of course there could be exceptions, but that's how it generally works, and basically locks you in from the time of allotment till the time the market opens. So the risk you have is of calamitous events happening during that time - Black Monday or something like that, but otherwise it would be rare for markets (company stock) to fall 15% and the entire ESPP allocation to be a net loss.