Stock Price – Bid – Ask – Spread – Liquidity
By · CommentsIf you are new to the world of the Stock Market, one of the first things you have to learn is how to read a stocks price. This might seem really simple and rudimentary right? Wrong!
The is a lot to a stocks price and when I think back all those years to when I began to learn about the stock market reading a stock price really took some thinking about. For example what is the bid price? What is the difference between the bid and the ask? What does “Last Price” mean? All these questions and more will be answered in the following article.
Whats in a stock price?
Take a look at this output from Yahoo Finance. It is a typical representation of stock price.
How much of it do you understand?
Stock Price : Last Trade
If a stock is currently trading, e.g. the Stock Exchange on which it is being traded is open, then you will see the Last Price. This is the price at which the stock last changed hands from seller to buyer. This changes often. One important thing to note is this example is from the LSE the London Stock Exchange and stock prices here are quotes in Pence. There are of course 100 Pence in a Pound. This “Last Price” is not 221.50 pounds, but 221.50 pence, or approximates 2.21 GBP (Great British Pounds). In the US stock markets prices are quoted in $ US Dollars. So if you trade US you will see a stock price of $2.21.
Stock Price : Trade Time
This is the time at which the last share was traded. Here you see 5:02 AM EDT (Eastern Daylight Time)
Stock Price : Change
This is the difference between the last closing price and the current price (Last Price). Here we see that British Airways has increased 2.55% since the previous days close.
Stock Price : Prev. Close (Previous Close)
This is the stock price of the last transaction of the previous days trading.
Stock Info – Get Great Information on Stocks Online
By · CommentsKnowing where to go online to get great free stock market information is very important. Having a few key resources that you incorporate into your trading and investment planning and visit regularly can be of great benefit.
This article will highlight some important resources to help you create your weekly plan of action. I recommend you book mark these sites and use them regularly.
Stock Market Info
Stock Indexes & Futures
If you can get Bloomberg TV via satellite this is well worth it, it is also free in most regions. Bloomberg TV is also available via streaming from their website at Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg is fast paced, full of valuable information and even contains some worth while Technical & Fundamental Analysis of individual stocks and the major stock market indexes. Apart from having to sit through countless annoying adverts for the Charlie Rose Interview show, Bloomberg is a good source of information. Also before tuning in to Bloomberg, you will need to work on your news filter. By this I mean you need to practice filtering out the un-important news from the important news. This article on playing the news will help.
Bloomberg also have other very interesting information sources on the website.
Bloomberg Futures – it is very important to review the futures before the opening bell. This will help you assess whether the trading day will turn out positive or negative. Futures contract are traded globally 24 hours a day and can be a good indicator of the direction of the actual market before the opening bell rings. Stock Index Futures are the ones to look out for. If the Futures Contracts for the SP-500 are soaring before the opening bell it is fairly certain the market will open up. This might help you decide that today is the day to buy that stock you have been watching. Also if the futures trading is strongly negative, you might wait for later in the trading day to see if the market recovers from the negative open before you buy that stock.
Bloomberg Economic Calendar – this can be useful for a quick weekly check to see if there are any macro economic announcements due. Things to look out for are the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank or other reserve bank announcements especially regarding Monetary Policy (Interest Rate or Money Supply Chages etc)
Bloomberg World Indexes – a snapshot summary of the current state of play in the major world stock market indexes
Fundamental Company Information
One excellent source of information on an individual stock or company which you might not be aware of is TDAmeritrade. You will not need an account with TDAmeritrade to access this information. TDAmeritrade lay out the information in a very easy to digest way.
Also on the Earnings Tab you will find the corporate earning announcements and future earning estimates presented in bar graph format which gives you an easy way to visualize if a company is making good steps forward in earnings or experiencing earning acceleration.
Stock Charts – Investors Guide to Stock Charts
By · Comments“There is more than one way to skin a cat” goes the old saying, quite why someone would want to skin a cat is beyond me. Like the skinning of cats, there is more than one way to picture the supply and demand situation of the stock market.
Types of Stock Chart
Stock charts come in many shapes and sizes. From the differences in the bars, to the different concepts applied to the chart itself. Here you will find a reference guide to the many types of chart available with an overview of their potential uses.
Line Stock Chart
This is one of the most basic charts, probably giving the least amount of information. The line in the top pane is drawn using the close price for each unit of time. So if this is a daily line chart, the close price for the day is used. If this is a 5 minute chart, then the close price for each 5 minutes of trading is used.
The Good
A very simple view of the price movement. Good to use when comparing many stocks on the same chart.
The Bad
Does not show the Price Open / High / Low for the trading period. The trading range for the day is important in price based decision making
High Low Close Bar Chart (HLC)
Using bars is a step up from the line chart as is allows us to plot additional useful data on the chart. Here we have each bar representing a trading period with the price High, Low and Close represented. Refer to the diagram.
The Good
More information is available, showing the range of the days trading.
The Bad
No opening price is reflected in this chart. The opening price is important as it allows us to immediately see if the price gapped up or down on open, and also where the closing price is in relation to the opening price.
Gold Members – Special Market Report 23rd July 2010
By · CommentsThis message was sent on Friday 23rd July 2010 (pre market open) to Gold Members – those who have purchased the Liberated Stock Trader PRO Training Course
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To : Gold Members I hope your PRO training is going well.
I just thought I would give you a special market analysis – only for PRO – Gold Members
The markets are starting to look lively, we are seeing positive divergences in the key oscillators RSI, TSV, Money Flow / MoneyStream, price is moving up on increasing volume, despite the abundance of bears and bad news. The probabilities are shifting from larger downside movements to potential upside movements.
Also in Chapter 3 of your training, the seasonal cycles section shows in the last 10 years, August, October, November and December to be good months.
We might be shaping up for this.
The market is volatile at the moment, and any serious bad news might negatively swing the entire market. So keep alert and be aware of a “potential turnaround”. We are still officially in a downtrend, but the market is looking to shape up for at least a short term move upwards.
Have a great weekend
Barry
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If you would like to fast track your stock market education and get the benefits of being a gold member see the Liberated Stock Trader PRO product
.
New Stock Market Education Video Podcast – Released
By · CommentsTake control of your destiny with Free & Premium Stock Market Education & Training
A selection of the best articles from liberatedstocktrader.com for June / July 2010
In this episode of the Liberated Stock Trader PODCAST
- Is the Stock Market overvalued Still?
- The single way to make money in the Stock Market
- A bad day at the office
- Crunch time for the stock market
- 10 Steps to building a successful stock market system
- Stock Market Analysis – The S&P 500










