Questions tagged [stocks]
This tag is to be used for any questions related to Stocks. Ideally they should be accompanied by a country tag if relevant. It is discouraged to ask question about a specific stock. However an example can be used to illustrate a point.
483
questions
208
votes
13answers
56k views
Why would a company care about the price of its own shares in the stock market?
After a company has issued shares, why should it care if the value of the shares fluctuate?
Since the shares are now publicly traded, if the value fluctuates, that is strictly a transaction between ...
168
votes
3answers
689k views
Can someone explain a stock's "bid" vs. "ask" price relative to "current" price?
In my online brokerage account, I want to buy a particular stock and I see the following:
Bid: 13.20 x200 Ask: 13.27 x1,000
the current stock price is 13.22.
Can someone explain what ...
43
votes
3answers
12k views
Why does demand for stock rise when a company appears to have high future value?
So a company decides to raise money by selling shares of its stock. The stock is offered at an initial price of their determination. The stock is then traded in a market where forces of supply and ...
52
votes
11answers
25k views
Why do people buy stocks that pay no dividend?
Before recently, Apple Inc. did not give dividend to shareholders.
This makes me curious why people buy Apple Inc. stocks; while it might be due to the expectation of selling stocks at a higher price,...
10
votes
4answers
6k views
How is stock price determined?
Is stock price determined only by the last trade that takes place?
For example, if a stock I own is trading at $3.42, and I place a Sell Limit order for $0.00, will the stock price temporarily dip to ...
112
votes
7answers
30k views
Why is stock dilution legal?
What I always heard, since I was a child, was that if you own a stock share, you actually own a small share of a company. That seems to be the general consensus of what a stock share is.
Well, that ...
12
votes
4answers
60k views
What does "more buyers than sellers" in technical analysis of stocks actually mean?
I often hear/read technical analysts looking at volume and price action on a chart and claiming that there are "more buyers than sellers" or vice versa.
Since every trade requires a buyer and a ...
24
votes
2answers
53k views
How to find historical stock price for a de-listed or defunct company?
With services like Google Finance or Yahoo Finance it is very convenient to find the historical stock price metric of a listed company, but if the company is not listed, I can't find the data.
For ...
38
votes
10answers
11k views
Why do people claim that it's hard to outperform the S&P 500? It has only increased in value by ~1.5x in the past 5 years
Whereas companies like Google, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, Apple have all increased anywhere from 3x-6x in value in the past 5 years. If you just stuck with those companies, you would have easily ...
8
votes
1answer
2k views
What is the final price if the bid price exceeds the ask price in an order driven market? [duplicate]
Let's assume a very simplified situation. There is only one seller asking for 10$ and there is only one buyer bidding 20$. At what price would the transaction go?
Some answers say it won't, because ...
8
votes
1answer
415 views
Question about ex-dividend date timing
For example, if the ex-dividend date is next Monday, and I buy the stock on next Monday, would I get the dividend? Or would the person who sold the stock to me get the dividend?
22
votes
5answers
4k views
Book or web site resources for an absolute beginner to learn about stocks and investing? [closed]
I'm completely new to the world of investing and stocks. Knowing that I shouldn't invest or buy stocks until I know it well enough, I was wondering which cheap or affordable resources would be the ...
67
votes
3answers
16k views
How did this day trader lose so much?
I recently read this article about a day trader that lost $100,000:
A trader started a GoFundMe page to pay back $100,000 to E-Trade after a disastrous short
Please explain this, because I can not ...
245
votes
22answers
81k views
Why isn't everybody rich?
This question came up after reading this question (stock market long term risks), in which it is re-iterated (as it has been many times on this site), that investing in the stock market, especially an ...
113
votes
12answers
111k views
In the stock market, why is the "open" price value never the same as previous day's "close"?
This is something that is mind-boggling to me, and it is particularly obvious in candlestick graphs:
Why is the open value never the same as the previous day's close value?
This is something I just ...
8
votes
4answers
2k views
Does a stock really dip in price on the ex-dividend date? And why would it do this?
As per this Investopedia article:
Because the stock price is expected to drop by the amount of the
dividend on the ex-dividend date,
Why is a stock expected to fall on the dividend date? Does it ...
2
votes
3answers
275 views
At what time do you have to pay capital gains taxes in the US to avoid any penalties?
Let's say someone just sold some stock and their total gains on that stock were $5,000. At what time do they have to cut the U.S. government a check to pay the taxes on this gain?
Let me clarify: I'...
166
votes
11answers
37k views
Do I make money in the stock market from other people losing money?
Basically I am new to stock trading and neglect to see the differences between trading stocks and betting on sports. Basically I am "betting" on which company will do well, and this can ...
42
votes
10answers
48k views
Options for dummies. Can you explain how puts & calls work, simply?
I never understood Puts or Calls. Could anybody explain it like I were a child?
80
votes
11answers
22k views
Why does a company pay dividends at all?
If a company can lower the dividends and even stop paying them at all during hard times, why would they re-install them at all?
If I understand correctly a company pays dividends so that investors ...
38
votes
7answers
11k views
Why is it rational to pay out a dividend?
Imagine a mature company, which has stable earnings and made a profit this year. The company is planing to pay out a part of this earnings to its shareholders. Assuming the stock price goes down ...
21
votes
5answers
5k views
What is insider trading exactly?
I know that insider trading is illegal. However, is it true that the CEO of a listed company can still buy/sell their own stock? If he/she does so, isn't that technically insider trading? Or why is it ...
13
votes
4answers
21k views
When am I entitled to participate in a stock split? — record date, split date, ex date
Stock split announcements usually mention a few dates — record date ("date of record"), split date ("distribution date", "pay date", or "payment date"), ex date ...
8
votes
2answers
10k views
What happens to options held during a reverse stock split?
I held 1 put option for 100 shares of USO that expires on May 8. Yesterday, USO underwent an 8:1 reverse stock split. My options are now for USO1 instead of USO, but what does that mean?
The strike ...
1
vote
2answers
963 views
How are ETF prices calculated after the market is closed
For example:
Because the NASDAQ: DAX is tracking the index INDEXDB: DAX should its trading value be completely flat when the market the markets are open in the US, but closed in Germany? I'm not ...
113
votes
10answers
15k views
Why should we expect stocks to go up in the long term?
I have read in many personal finance books that stocks are a great investment for the long term, because on average they go up 5-7% every year. This has been true for the last 100 years for the S&...
13
votes
4answers
29k views
Can we estimate the impact of a large buy order on the share price?
What I am trying to understand is: If we know the number of shares a company trades and the current price of the share, can we estimate what volume of trade that is required to move the share price in ...
22
votes
8answers
3k views
56
votes
2answers
28k views
How can GameStop be short 140% of float?
"Short positions currently make up an impossible 140% of GameStop’s float, which is the result of a flaw in how short interest is calculated, a flaw that’s getting greatly magnified in the case ...
20
votes
3answers
102k views
What typically happens to unvested stock during an acquisition?
I work for a publicly traded company that was acquired by another publicly traded company. I also own shares of "restricted stock units" for my company. All of my shares are scheduled to vest far ...
12
votes
3answers
21k views
How to map stock ticker symbols to ISIN (International Securities Identification Number)?
How can I can convert ticker symbols (which include information on the exchange) to an International Securities Identification Number (ISIN) (which contains no information on the exchange)?
Also I am ...
21
votes
2answers
3k views
Mutual fund value went down, shares went up, no action taken by me
I have no prior experience with stocks so please forgive me if this is a dumb question but I don't even know what to try googling. Two days ago I signed up with scottrade. I put $1000 into ICENX ...
17
votes
3answers
5k views
Can a single share of stock be shorted multiple times?
Is it possible for a single share of stock to be shorted multiple times?
Concrete example:
Imagine we have five people with the following motivations:
Person A owns a share of company ABC and wants to ...
27
votes
3answers
11k views
Does investing in a company support it?
I ask this question in the context of investing in "ethical" companies, as someone I know wants to do in order to support them. My understanding is that when you buy stock, you're just exchanging ...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
What are the risks of allowing my stock broker to lend out my shares to short sellers?
Some types of brokerage accounts allow the stock broker to lend my shares to short sellers (probably without needing to notify me). Do I incur any risks when I sign up for such accounts? Is there any ...
2
votes
5answers
30k views
Why does selling and then rebuying stock not lead to free money?
From what I understand, stock prices go down when large amounts of the stock are sold (thereby lowering the price to attract buyers), and go up when large amounts are bought (vice versa - buyers rise ...
asked Feb 17 '15 at 5:50
David says Reinstate Monica
2,7595 gold badges19 silver badges34 bronze badges
14
votes
2answers
4k views
What is a large sudden jump (or dip) and instantaneous recovery in a stock price [duplicate]
So why did the price tank all of a sudden and then came back to normal? What does it mean?
68
votes
11answers
14k views
Stock market long term risks
This question has been spurred by the following question which was on the 'Hot Network Questions' Is it a lie that you can easily make money passively in the stock market? . The answers to that ...
67
votes
4answers
138k views
How does a public company issue new shares without diluting the value held by existing shareholders?
When a public company issues new shares, the total number of shares traded in a secondary market goes up. Assuming there is no change in the fundamentals of the company and the profitability, I would ...
23
votes
7answers
18k views
Is it true that 90% of investors lose their money?
Many investment gurus state that majority of investors fail and then offer a proven "[insert fancy name] investment strategy" that will make you successful. The number usually starts at 90% and often ...
14
votes
11answers
11k views
Does the stock market create any sort of value?
Sorry if the below seems like a conspiracy theory. It probably is, but I probably don't understand something. (This has bugged me to no end as long as I can remember.)
Okay, so here is what I ...
53
votes
4answers
117k views
When a stock price rises, does the company get more money?
When a stock price rises, does the company get more money?
30
votes
2answers
27k views
Difference between GOOGL and GOOG
Why are there two ticker symbols for Google — GOOGL and GOOG?
They seem to be mostly identical, but their market values are different: currently, 551.64 for GOOGL and 548.79 for GOOG.
36
votes
10answers
9k views
Should a high-school student invest their (relative meager) savings?
I am a high school student, I don't really have much money, between one and two grand in my savings account. However, I have friends who are investing in both penny stocks and stocks. I do not really ...
24
votes
10answers
10k views
Why do investors pay trillions for minority stakes in companies, when their only potential payback is modest uncertain dividends? [duplicate]
I'm struggling to understand the core reason to invest in stocks as a minority shareholder. Majority shareholding makes more sense as you effectively control the company, so you can pay yourself ...
37
votes
9answers
18k views
Is it legal to “mine” dividends?
Dividends are paid to share holders based on ownership of shares before the “ex-dividends” date.
Example:
Stock A has an ex-date of July 1st
Stock B has an ex-date of July 15th
Stock C has an ex-date ...
23
votes
5answers
20k views
Do stock prices drop due to dividends?
From Personal Finance for Dummies, page 209:
Dividends
Dividends are income paid by investments. Both bond funds
and stocks can pay dividends. Bond fund dividends (the interest paid
by the ...
10
votes
2answers
5k views
How does the purchase of shares on the secondary market benefit the issuing company?
Purchasing common stock is often described as making an investment in the company. In exchange for this investment, you receive shares of the company's profits and, hopefully, you see some capital ...
7
votes
1answer
649 views
Wash sale rule + Mutual Funds/ETFs?
According to IRS rules, you can't sell a security, take a capital loss on your taxes, and then buy back the same or a "substantially identical" security within 30 days. However, "substantially ...
7
votes
4answers
5k views
What happens to an options contract during an all stock acquisition?
Let's say for the sake of the question you're given the following scenario:
Company BIG is trading at $10/share
Company SML is trading at $40/share
BIG reaches an agreement with SML for an all stock ...
