How to Read a Streaming Stock Quote
The term "streaming" simply refers to stock quotes given in real time, with as little delay as possible. This is a feat of technology, considering stock prices and activity change by the minute. The most common way that this is accomplished is through streaming quotes given in the form of an online stock ticker, which is a toolbar that automatically scrolls across the screen giving updates on different stocks. Reading the stock ticker may come slowly at first while you are leaning how to interpret each symbol, but will be automatic after practice. The key is to know what the symbols represent and read each successively from let to right.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Streaming stock quote ticker
- List of companies you want to follow
- List of symbols for those companies
Instructions
-
-
1
Find the stock symbols of the company or companies you want to follow through any of the following websites: MSN money central, investors.com, finance.yahoo.com or market watch. Look for the "Symbol Lookup" field and type in the company you are looking for. The symbol will be one to four capital letters long. It is the first piece of information given for each company in its streaming quote.
-
2
Read the stock numbers. The stock numbers will follow the stock symbols. The number is abbreviated with the letter "K" standing for 1,000, "M" standing for 1,000,000 and "B" standing for 1,000,000,000. If you see 30K, this means that 30,000 shares of stock have been traded for that company.
-
-
3
Read the prices traded. This is the second piece of information behind your stock symbol, it shows the bid price, or what each share is going for at the current time. This number is given as a whole number and decimal. 186.50 means $186.50
-
4
Note the change of direction. The third thing to look at after your symbol is the direction change. This will tell you whether the stock has gone up or down since the previous day's trading. This symbol is an arrow head that is either pointing up or down. There are some tickers in the media that will use a plus or minus sign instead of an arrow head. You will also be able to tell this information by the color code given. A green color means up, and red means down. So a green arrow or plus sign means the stock's price has increased.
-
5
Read the amount that the stock price has changed. This is a number that indicates the specific change in price and is the final piece of information to read. Often, it will be green if it is an increase and red if it is a decrease. The color code system helps you to instantly visualize whether your stock has gone up or down. This number will be given as a percentage, 2.64%, of the previous trading price.
-
1
References
Resources
- Photo Credit wall street with flag image by Tomasz Cebo from Fotolia.com
