Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Waiting for the big Kahuna -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jaxax who wrote (9521)	11/11/1997 9:03:00 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 94695

Usually it shows selling presure (big ask size) or buying presure (big bid size)but most of the time I realize that those are fictisious numbers which the market maker post just to move the market. If this happen in slow markets it's a way of stock manipulation. Also many time the size is close to accurate and you get a real read of the tendecy. Hope it helps, Happy trading Haim

To: Jaxax who wrote (9521)	11/11/1997 9:17:00 PM
From: kas1	Respond to of 94695

bid/ask size refers to hundreds of shares that the best buyer is willing to trade, and the hundreds of shares that the best seller is willing to trade. if the best (lowest-priced) seller wants to sell more than the buyer wants to buy, then obviously the next seller will be at a sligthly lower price ("downtick"). etc etc. so such an imbalance means that the price will settle somewhere other than where those imbalances are: usually above it if bid>ask, and below it if ask>bid. of course, in the real world, orders -- market as well as limit -- are coming in and out all the time, so the bid/ask size is of very limited value. i usually only use it to see where support and resistance is within a small intraday trading range. say i am trying to determine the trading range of stock x. say i see pretty even bid-asks, until the stock climbs to 100 -- then it's 1000 asks, 5 bids. obviously, lots of sellers at 100, so it's likely to be a ceiling. (often the case with "natural attractors" like 50, 100, etc) short answer: it means nothing without context, and can mean a very limited something within the right context.