How to Download Historical Stock Prices

If you have ever downloaded your checkbook transactions using your bank's Website, then you already know how to download historical stock prices from one of the major quoting sites.



You can download the information directly to a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel. Or you can save the data file and upload it to any type of program that accepts the comma-delimited file format. This includes most database and money-management programs.

Things You'll Need

• Spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel

Instructions

Downloading Data to Microsoft Excel

1. Type a stock symbol in the quote box on your preferred stock site (such as finance.yahoo.com or google.com/finance). Depress the enter key on your keyboard to retrieve current price quotes.

2. Select the link for "Historical Prices," typically found on the left-hand column.

3. Set your data parameters, including the starting and ending dates for your historical quotes, whether you want daily or weekly quotes, etc. Once you have selected your parameters, press "enter" on your keyboard or click on the button to get your data.

4. Click on the link: "Download to spreadsheet." This link may appear on the right of your table or could be located at the bottom of the page, beneath the data table.

5. Look for a pop-up dialogue box title either "Opening data.csv" or "Opening table.csv." The radio button next to "Open with" will be checked, and the type "Microsoft Office Excel (default)" will appear in the drop-down menu.

6. Click on the OK button in the dialog box. This will cause the Microsoft Excel program to launch, and you will see the historical stock price table on the Excel page.

7. Click on the disk icon in Excel and follow the instructions to save your file in your preferred file folder. You can then work with the information in Excel or close your file and come back to it later.

Downloading Data into a Program Other Than Excel

1. Repeat Steps 1 through 6 in the section above until you have the dialogue box open with the radio button next to the "Open with" drop-down menu.

2. Click on the "Save File" radio button then click on the "OK" button. This will open the "save file" dialogue box and enable you to personalize the download file and select the appropriate folder. Don't worry if the file type says "Microsoft Excel." The file you are saving is actually a general file type that can be opened in any program using the comma-delimited file format.

   Once you have made these selections, click on the "Save" button to close the dialogue box.

3. Open the program into which you want to upload the historical price data.

4. Use the "file open" commands in your program to select and open your data file.

5. Use the "Save as" function to save your data in the format used by your program. You can now manipulate your data or close your file and come back to it later.

Tips & Warnings

• Even if you don't see a download link on your quoting site, you can usually copy and paste the historical prices table directly into a spreadsheet.

• Don't use historical data to create charts in your spreadsheet program. Most of the quoting sites have robust charting options.

References

• Yahoo! Finance
• Google Finance