How Long Does It Take for a Stock Trade to Be Executed After Placement?

For your first question: yes, it is possible for a trade not to execute immediately even after you receive a confirmation email.
In the Nigerian stock market, the email confirming your order usually means:
your order was successfully submitted to the broker,
not that the trade has already been matched/executed.
According to ARM Securities FAQ, trades may delay because of:
order queue,
market volume,
price mismatch,
or absence of a matching buyer/seller.
A trade executes only when:
a buyer and seller agree at the same price.
Example:
If you place a buy order for First Holdco at ₦30,
but sellers are only willing to sell at ₦31,
your order may remain pending.
Things that affect execution speed:
Whether you used “market order” or “limit order”
Liquidity of the stock
Market hours
Queue priority
Volume demand
Highly traded stocks like:
GTCO,
First Holdco,
Access Holdings
usually execute faster than low-volume stocks.
Settlement is different from execution:
Execution = trade matched
Settlement = shares/cash delivered
Nigeria currently operates mainly on T+2 settlement for many trades, moving toward T+1.
For your second question about why major people invest heavily in certain stocks:
When influential investors like Donald Trump or Femi Otedola invest heavily in companies, it usually signals one or more things:
Strong confidence in future growth
They believe the company’s profits, expansion, or strategic importance will increase.
For example:
NVIDIA is central to AI chips and artificial intelligence growth.
First Holdco is tied to banking-sector recovery and restructuring.
Strategic influence
Large ownership can give:
voting power,
board influence,
prestige,
or long-term control.
In Nigeria, large shareholders often shape company direction.
Wealth concentration
Rich investors do not spread money equally everywhere. They concentrate heavily where conviction is strongest.
Market signaling
When famous investors buy heavily:
retail investors often follow,
demand rises,
and the stock price may increase further.
That is why news about insider or billionaire investments moves markets.
Regarding Nvidia specifically, recent reports showed large disclosed investments tied to Nvidia amid the AI boom and U.S.-China tech discussions.
For Femi Otedola and First Holdco: His heavy investment is generally interpreted as:
belief in the bank’s long-term value,
expectation of restructuring gains,
and desire for influence within the institution.
Many institutional investors study such moves because “smart money” positioning can reveal where experienced investors see future opportunity.