What is a stock quote?

A stock quote is the price of a stock as quoted on a stock exchange. A stock quote usually includes its bid and ask price, last-traded price and volume traded.

Where have you heard about stock quotes?

Stock quotes are hosted on online financial portals and in the financial press. You can check them by entering in or looking up the stock code for the company plus the stock exchange where its stocks are listed.

What you need to know about stock quotes.

Individual investors can check a company's stock quote to help them decide whether to buy or sell securities in its stock. However, it is good to be aware that the information contained in a stock quote is sometimes limited; for example, it may not disclose which market makers are bidding for or offering the security, whether there are limit orders on the security or the size of potential trades at a particular price.

In other words, stock quotes do not give the viewer access to the "order book" showing who has an interest in a security and at what price. But stock quotes do give traders and investors a basic idea of how a security is faring.

You can get a stock quote, by entering the stock code, also known as a ticker symbol, into the quote box of any major financial sites that show stock exchange listings.

Find out more about stock quotes.

Stock quotes are key information for investors. See also stock exchange, stock index and stock market.