Section 1 · Stock Fundamentals
How to Read a Stock Quote
Every number on a stock quote and what it tells you.
A scoreboard for a company.
A stock quote packs a lot into a small space. The price is what the last trade happened at. The change shows how much it moved today. Volume tells you how many shares traded hands. Open and close mark the day's start and end. Together, these numbers tell you what the market thinks about a company right now.
3 things to know
A stock quote updates in real time — the price you see is milliseconds old.
The 52-week high/low shows the stock's full range over the past year.
Volume spikes often signal big news — something is happening with that company.
Key vocabulary — tap each card
Did you know?
Stock prices used to be quoted in fractions (1/8, 1/4, 1/2 of a dollar). The US switched to decimal pricing in 2001, saving investors billions in tighter spreads.