January 17th, by Karl 0 Comments. Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to be an expert with indicators like Bollinger bands, MACD, or any other advanced metric.

You simply have to know how to make sense of the information that is given to you and know what it means. The above quote is for Apple AAPL , taken from Google Finance. Your screen will look different if you use something other than Google Finance, but all the basic information is the same. The first thing to know is the spot price , which in this picture is This is the value of the stock at this moment in time.

Below that is how many points the stock has risen or fallen. The number in parentheses is the percentage of the overall value that the stock has risen or fallen. When seeing how much the stock has risen or fallen, ignore the points number and look at the percentage; it provides you with a better perspective. The range is the price range over the current trading day. Below it is the range over the last 52 weeks. Below that number, you see something called the open.

This number goes with a group of other numbers called the OHLC — open, high, low, and close:.

Useful Data Sets

Note that the close for one day and open for another day are not necessarily the same. Stocks can be traded after hours. Volume is the number of shares that have been traded — bought or sold — throughout the day. You can glean a lot of useful information from analyzing volume.

For starters, a stock with low volume is thinly traded, which means it lacks liquidity. That means it can be hard to buy or sell. Likewise, a stock with higher-than-average trading means that the stock is very liquid, but can also be very volatile meaning the price goes up or down relatively quickly and dramatically.

When coupled with price on a chart, though, it can be more useful.

What does it mean when "N/A" appears for a company's P/E ratio?

For example, churning is when higher-than-average volume is accompanied by a stock trading in a narrow price range.

Usually, this is the inverse of what typically happens, which is this saying: Spikes in volume represent higher interest in a stock, which usually precedes some change in price. The first is market capitalization. The dividend is the dollar amount per share that is distributed to stockholders on a quarterly to annual basis.

The yield is the percentage of the entire annual dividend divided by the current share price. Most yields are much lower. The next number — EPS earnings per share — is a big one. All other things being equal, a higher EPS is preferable to a lower one. This means that each share of stock is more productive in producing profit for the company. EPS can be easily manipulated. If a company routinely misses EPS estimates, its stock will suffer. The last two figures on the chart are ignored by some investors, but are taken into consideration by virtually every strong investor in the market.

Beta is a statistical value that indicates how volatile a stock is in relation to the market. The market has a beta of 1. If beta is negative, there is an inverse relationship. If the beta is The last figure is institutional ownership. This is the percentage of shares that are owned by institutions, which include financial organizations like investment banks , endowments, pension funds, insurance companies, mutual funds, hedge funds, and other large, well-funded entities. There are two schools of thought about this.

By looking at all of these figures, you can become more adept at analyzing a stock and grasping the crucial bits of data and information about a stock so you can make a more informed choice. You can use these tags: Currently you have JavaScript disabled.

In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser. Enter your E-Mail to recieve updates. Home Stock Tutorials Stock Brokers Reviews Optionshouse Review TradeKing Review TD Ameritrade Review ETrade Review Scottrade Review Penny Stock Brokers Binary Options Brokers Contact More.. OptionsXpress Review Alternative Investments About.

Do You Know How to Read Stocks? How To Get Rich With The Stock Market Over Time. How Much Income Do You Need To Be Upper Class? Be the first to leave a reply! Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply.

Hughes Optioneering

Popular Posts How To Trade Stocks - The Basics Top Online Stock Brokers A Guide to Finding High Dividend Stocks The Ultimate Guide To Stock Screeners The Basic Guide To Chart Patterns Simulated Stock Trading Stock Trading Strategies.

I'm Karl and I have been a keen investor for over a decade. Learn more about my experiences and say hello!