I don't understand stock market / trading terms – can you help me figure this out?
I’m 19 and I still don’t know this. I guess I should, but I don’t and it’s just annoying to hear about it all the time and not know what it means. All I know about the stock market is that stocks (the lowest you can own of a company) are traded on the market and that companies have symbols on the market like SBUX for Starbucks.
I put SBUX into Google and I get this …
28.39 -0.10 (-0.35%) (Oct 25 4:00pm ET)
28.69 +0.30 (1.06%) (After Hours)
Open: 28.55
High: 28.80
Low: 27.02
Volume: 5,699,279
Avg Vol: 7,218,000
Mkt Cap: 21.01B
I’m basically hoping someone can explain to me what all of that means. Does 28.39 mean that Starbucks stocks trade for .39 when the market closed, but then trade for more when it closed? I really have no idea what any of that means.
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October 26th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
You are correct.
The closing price (last trade made when the market closed) was 28.39
Based on yesterday’s (last Friday) the stock price moved down $0.10 which means the price fell a third of a percent.
When the market opened this morning, the first trade was performed at a price of $28.55.
The stock’s highest price today was $28.80.
The stock’s lowest price today was $27.02.
This means the stocks range of pricing today was $1.78.
If a stock can be traded after the market closed (after hours trading) then the price of the stock during those trades was $28.69 but could have fluctuated during after hours.
If you are looking at companies that you know by name, don’t worry about market capitalization or volume since the number of shares traded in the trading markets will be several million.
October 26th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Yes, that is exactly what it means. Market "closes" based on east coast time (NYSE usually) but due to global economy shares can still be traded after hours, and thus stocks will rise and fall even after the market "closed".
Just the other day, Google and Apple announced earnings, both shot up huge amounts (several dollars), then promptly gave up much of the gains after hours.
Search investopedia.com for some primers on Stock markets and trading and such.
—
Kasey C, PC guru since Apple II days
Error, no keyboard – press F1 to continue.
October 26th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
The stock exchanges match buyers with sellers and are the most efficient way of trading stocks and the $28.39 is the price the stock traded at close of market. The after hours market isn’t on the exchange and is usually over the counter (OTC). There is less liquidity, less regulation (it could even be trading over Craigslist though that’s unlikely) and there’s often a middle man participating in the speculation, often the major brokerage houses themselves trying to reposition themselves act as the middleman.
The after hours market is an indication of late news, particularly news from exchanges in other timezones and what the investor’s reactions are to the day’s trade. For the most part it’s not relevant cause you’re not going to get the best prices on the after hours market because of the liquidity and because of the intermediaries in the deal. Just use the after hours prices as an indicator of general sentiment.
October 26th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
All the above