Share Quotes

  

Share Quotes are the prices available in the share market for trade (either buy or sell).

Basically, share market is a order driven market where an investor gives an order either of buy or sell . If the order finds a match in the system then it gets executed known as Active Order . But if it doesn’t find a matching order then it gets submitted in the order book and waits for a suitable match for getting executed which is known as the Passive Order .

Now, the orders one could watch in the share trading terminal , either active or passive, are regarded as the share quotes .

Generally, quotations are the most currently available highest bid price and the lowest ask price of a share which gets displayed on the share trading electronic terminal at a brokerage firm (known as Quotation Board ).

The price at which the last trade takes place is known as quoted price .

Now let us discuss about some of the very important terms associated with Share Quotes without which the knowledge remains incomplete :-

Bid Price or Bid

Bid Price is the price which a buyer offers to a seller for buying a share usually referred as bid. It is the highest price quoted by a buyer of a share. In the practical world, Bid price refers to the price available to an investor for selling the share.

Ask Price (Ask) or Offer Price (Offer)

Ask or Offer price is the price offered by the seller for accepting to buy the share. It is the lowest quoted price offered by a seller to sell a share. In the practical world, Ask price refers to the price available to an investor for buying the share.

Bid/Ask Spread

The difference between the quoted buying (bid) price and the selling (ask) price of a share at a given time is known as the Bid/Ask Spread.

Market Maker

Market makers are persons or firms who give quotes of both buy order and sell order in the share market in the pursuit of making profit out of the bid/ask spread. They are basically entities who buy or sell shares of a particular company in their own account. Market makers give buy and sell orders or quotations for a specified number of shares. Once he gets the opposite order, he pounces on it by taking the opposite position of the order from his own inventory of shares. This continuous flow of orders help to maintain liquidity in that share and consequently attracting more investors towards the same.

NASDAQ is known as the prime stock exchange for the operation of the market makers.

There are different types of share quotes available in NASDAQ , USA :-

1. Info Quotes

This gives information about :-

• Last Traded Price
• Previous Close Price
• Net Change of price from previous day
• Best Buy Order
• Best Sell Order
• Today’s High
• Today’s Low
• Volume

of Shares, Options and Mutual Funds.

2. Flash Quotes

This gives information about :-

• Last Traded Price,
• Net Change of price from previous day
• Volume

of Shares, Options and Mutual Funds.

3. Pre-Market Quote

These give well-reviewed and well-summarized information to the investors on :-

• Pre Market Price
• Pre Market Time
• Pre Market Volume

of Shares, Options and Mutual Funds.

4. After Market Hour Quote

These quotes help an investor in calculating his moves for the next trading session. After Market Hour Quote is considered are the leading indicators for the coming trading session. The quotes given are :-

• After Market Price
• After Market Time
• After Market Volume

Stocks, Options and Mutual Funds.

Hence, Share Quotes are an inevitable part of the share market and helps the investors in making decisions about trade.