Stock Trading

I know that stock prices are determined by supply and demand, but what does the price on the news ticker mean? Is that the price at which is was last traded?

That is the current price of the stock. But when you go to trade your broker will have an ‘offer price’ (what you buy at) and ‘bid price’ (what you sell at). So if stock price is 200p the ‘offer price’ may be 202p and ‘bid price’ 198p. The spread varies, th spread is how the brokers make money.

It is really difficult to guess from the trends, you see a big drop on price and you expect it to raise in next couple of days and it drops even more
and I have found out that it doesnt really follow based on the news related to that stock.
Any suggestions or ideas about this issue?
Thanks guys.

Try to get a better education on the market, how it works, the products in the markets and how they work.

Here is some reading material that can get you started in the right direction,
What Works on Wall Street by James O’Shaunessey
Beating the Street by Peter Lynch
One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch
The Warren Buffett Way by Robert Hagstrom
Trading For a Living by Alexander Elder
Mastering the Trade” by John Caster
How to Make Money in Stocks” and 24 Essential Lessons for Investment Success both by William O’Neil
The Disciplined Trader by Mark Douglas

Get into the habit of making daily visits to some websites like MSN Money and Yahoo Finance. (http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp http://finance.yahoo.com/ )
While at MSN following the strategy lab analysts to get a feel for what the pros are doing and why. This site has some basic information for beginners.

Other website that can provide instructions and help with procedures and terminology are Investopedia – http://www.investopedia.com/ Stock Charts – http://stockcharts.com/ http://www.investorshub.com/ http://www.1source4stocks.com/

Visit some of the more professional websites like Zacks – http://www.zacks.com/ Smart Money – http://www.smartmoney.com/ Schaeffer’s – http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/
Some of these web sites will have advertisers who are worth looking into also. And remember, if they offer free information, get it.

Study well and you’ll invest even better, Good luck

If i am looking to enter a stock at say around 10 dollars of asking price, but the after market price soars to 10.5 should i raise my buy limit? Should i just keep my buy limit around what the asking price was at the close of the market today? Do sellers normally show back up enough to counter the surge in aftermarket activity?

Unless it’s an earnings report or substantial " breaking news" that causes the price rise….you can surely wait. Afterhours trading is a poor indication of next day or next week’s prices.

If a company is bought out by another, will the company who is being bough see a rise in their stock price? For example, Bank of America’s takeover of Merril Lynch. Is this a good time to buy? Thanks

In a general sense, yes, usually at least for a day you will see a stock price jump in the company that is purchased. This is attributed to excitement in the market. Usually when companies are purchased they are down and not performing well. The purchase increases optimism in the investors that things will improve. There is no guarantee this gain will last. If the company is not better off the stock will fall back to pre-purchase levels and may continue to fall. You must still do your research. A purchase alone will not change the direction of the stock price.

Is there a current graph that explains the stock prices? I’m trying to figure out my nest step.

You can look here for knowing about the graphs of the stock prices

My computer crashed and I lost all my information on stock prices going back to the late 50s early 1960s. Someone gave me a google site a few months ago but that was lost in my computer aso. My Mom has another stock being recalled and we need the costs, splits and other info. Help!

Universities keep this info on hand, find a business librarian around your area, nobody does it better then these people.

The stock prices varies a lot within a day – Who is behind this to change the price of stocks and share value ?

Does it happens as demand – supply process..If so, how it works?

Works strictly through supply and demand.

i was wondering is there a place where you can check the cost of stocks however without signing up for something. because etrade requires to sign up first, and i couldn’t find another place, they just said if it was up or down. i feel dumb asking but i was curious.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/detail/stock_quote?Symbol=GLW

I was looking through some stock prices today and noticed that they all have delays (common delay of 20 mins). Is there a solid reason for this? Is it just to give people physically present at the stock exchange an anvantage?

The Stock Exchange charges large fees for live prices and the professional traders are willing and able to pay. If a website shows you them for free it is because they have to have the time delay built in.

I can’t get on the internet @ work & I would like to get stock prices hourly throughout the day. Is there a website or service that will email me instead of being able to go to the website directly?

None that I know of, & especially none that are free. Your electronic brokerage account may have an alert system for a particular stock.