dollars

How Are After Market Stock Prices Influenced?

Posted by

Available To Everyone

You can view and trade after market stock prices shortly after the market closes until quite late or you can start earlier than the market opens. However, there are a few things you should know first. You are, as a public investor, capable of trading on these networks if you know how.

There are different networks that you can trade on at this time. These are called ECNs, or Electronic Communication Networks.

After Hours Stock Prices Influenced By Fewer Investors

After hours stock prices do not act the same way as stock prices during regular trading hours. For one thing, they are more volatile, and spreads widen dramatically, especially in stocks with very low trading volumes.

As a result, trading after hours is usually done only by professionals and high net worth investors.

There are many fewer investors on these networks than during the day time. If you are familiar with how trading volume determines volatility and price spreads, the after market action will be quite clear to you.

Impact on Demand and Supply

With lower volume (less traders), there is naturally less demand and supply for any stock you are considering investing in.

You may be trying to sell a stock at $5.20. But the most anyone is willing to pay is $5.00.

In this case, it will be harder for you to sell your stock. You may even go till the next day before you can sell. This is another influencing factor you should be aware of when looking at the value of after hours stock prices.

So, say you give in and sell your stock at $5.00. You would have normally gotten $5.20, your asking price.

Wide spreads DO make a difference

This is not a large spread. But at times, it can be up to a few dollars difference. Imagine many of these trades being placed. With more trading comes more influence on stock price.

This is why after market stock prices tend to be more volatile, less liquid, and have greater price gaps.

I have just skimmed over this topic. For more information, check out my article on extended hours trading of stock.

Do you want to be financially and physically fit?

Posted by

I really liked reading advice about being financially and physically fit together on a recent online excursion. It seems that the two things can go hand in hand. So I decided to experiment with part of the article

Joining a Gym, or Leaving?

It seems really obvious that joining a gym and then not going every day isn’t really a financially sound practice, but I got so used to belonging to the gym that I basically stopped thinking about physical activity anywhere else.

It’s sort of like the dishwasher breaking and panicking that there are no clean dishes without remembering that you can hand wash dishes by hand. I just stopped thinking about physical exercise outside of the gym.

This article definitely broke it down into actual money I can save. So before terminating my gym membership which is actually cheaper than the $125 fee mentioned in the article, it costs $80 a month so it’s actually less than three dollars a day, I figured I’d try exercising outside of the gym, just to make sure.

Walking: The first thing that’s weird about walking rather than going to the gym is that there’s no machine telling me how fast I’m going or how long I’ve been at it or whether my heart rate has reached some optimal level. All that stuff is easy to readjust to for a few days just by committing to an amount of time you’re going to walk.

The second thing that took some adjustment was creating a walking route. For some reason it’s easier for me if I have a planned route. So I started with the whole around the block thing which didn’t take up the 45 minutes I know I should be spending walking. The simple solution for me was walking to some nature trails that are about three blocks away from my home.

The third thing I discovered is that I’d come to rely on the TV at the gym. Suddenly I was looking at my surroundings instead of watching TV. Trying to pick up some speed is a sure cure for the TV withdrawal. Paying attention to the ground also takes more focus than moving on a gym machine so I’m missing the TV less.

But I’m not an all-weather walker yet. If it’s raining, I’m not out there. Maybe I will at some point, but it hasn’t happened yet. When I start getting annoyed with myself on days I don’t go outside because of the weather, I think about the days I didn’t go to the gym either! Those were not a few, I can tell you!

Doing some exercises inside can fill the gap but I haven’t incorporated a great routine into my bad weather workouts yet. Also I found out my gym needs thirty days notice for me to terminate so if you’re thinking of doing this, you might want to find out the kind of notice your gym requires. And watch for any penalties that you may get, those contract clauses can come back to bite you!

Lunch Time

As far as the eating smart and saving money advice in the article, I liked the idea of purchasing gourmet meals from the grocery store. Still, I have to admit I like going out for dinner sometimes. There are some pretty reasonable places to eat in my area so instead of going to the most expensive places I can go to one of the less expensive places.

But if food variety is the issue for you, those gourmet meals in the food store sound like a great alternative to try. I do like the portion control (and calorie control) of pre-made meals which kind of force you to stop over-consuming, just make sure you don’t buy the double packs, or extra large servings. So I’m sure I’ll be trying them at some point.

Get a Life Cycle/Bicycle?

And you’ll notice I didn’t talk about the life cycle or bicycle. I’ll be damned if I actually know what a life cycle is! I did ride a couple of ‘special’ bikes at the gym, but I couldn’t remember if that was what they were called. And for bicycling, I’ve never been good at that, … I always get a sore ‘behind’ much quicker than my patience running out. So I’m not sure I’ll be trying either of those out any time soon!

Make Sensible Decisions

Sounds obvious, but there are times where we are spending money and we may actually be impairing our health. So look at your spending, check out the AceCashExpress Blog for some helpful financial advice.

Did you like this blog review? Are you financially and physically in shape in 2012? Or have you already broken your 2012 Resolutions? Share!

Quick Bits: Google Calculates Currency

Posted by

I know this is likely an old feature in Google, but it’s one I happened on by chance when I was researching GBP:US$ currency levels. As an aside, I noted that just a few weeks ago, the GBP was getting nearly 2 dollars, but the currency has weakened (or weak-kneed) by nearly 10% in just a shortime! It’s currently under $1.80.

Anyway, take a look at the image. The next time you’re away in foreign lands, you can whip out your mobile and do some approximate (I did say ‘approximate’ transactions) to figure out whether you’re getting the best rates or even just what the rates are.

currency in Google

The syntax is a little quirky:

Your Amount + Your Currency + in Target Currency

The result is worked out for you in the first line and presented. You’ll find that you can work out odd amounts, quicker than using a calculator, and you’ll be able to see any typos and redo the calculation faster and more accurately.

If you don’t know the currency code, you’ll need to find a currency list for you to identify your currency. But after that you can simply enter the currency name as normal. It doesn’t work for Gold or Silver but it’d be useful if it could. In fact, working out stock prices would also be a good way to use the function. Wonder why Google didn’t do that yet?

Oh, and did I say you could link to the calculation, embed the link in emails and websites, and so on? No. Try it.