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.

Biotech / Medical : Trinity Biotech (TRIBY) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scott H. Davis who wrote (7699)	1/4/1998 10:08:00 PM
From: Keiko	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14328

Scott, I am not a Broker but I will take a stab at that one...( maybe a Broker will jump in and add to my explanation if I'm all wet. Let's look at SIZE......in your example ( 5 x 5 ) lets call that 5000 X 5000... In other words there are 5000 shares for sale at the bid. In our example there are also 5000 shares for sale at the ask. The SIZE of each is 5000. The BID price is the price at which one can SELL a stock at any given time. The ASK price is the current price being ASKED for a stock. The difference between the BID and the ASK is the " SPREAD." What is the significance ? On listed exchanges it has a very meaningful application. Bid 10 1/4 x Ask 10 1/2......40 x 80 <----bid-ask size 4000 shares are being bid for at 10 1/4.........8000 shares are being offered at 10 1/2.... In other words a larger ASK SIZE than a BID SIZE means there are many more SELLERS than buyers..( more downward pressure on the stock price.) Some sophistocated traders use these as a guide but in reality these numbers change constantly during any given trading day just as upticks and downticks vary from minute to minute. Hope this helps......7700 and counting Juergen !

To: Scott H. Davis who wrote (7699)	1/4/1998 11:29:00 PM
From: Bob Jagow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14328

Scott, I see that Keiko has answered you--note 5x5 is 500 shares, not 5000, but the 40x80 was right. Note that the Bid x Ask only indicate the largest sizes offered at those prices; there may be other MMakers offering the same or smaller sizes at these prices as well as a variety of less-competitive bids and asks. Many serious daytraders subscribe to Level II NASDAQ in order to see these additional orders, but the monthly cost for this, including a $50 NASDAQ fee, is about $200 more than regular RT. One of the level II offerers [ elitetrader.com ] has a free tutorial re how the sizes affect price movements. Bob