Why The Term " Stock Exchange"

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The very first thing you need to learn when you start investing in the stock market is how to read stock quotes. Understanding it and knowing how to read it properly is essential in placing your buy or sell in stock market.

When you type in the stock code of any company in the Quotes page ( see the photo below), here I type in bpi, stock code of Bank of the Philippine Island
                                       

                                                                                                                                                               

This table appear,

In the bid column, you can see the list of buyers who are willing to buy the stock for and the quantity they want to buy and how much they bid for it. Same goes with the Ask Column, it is the list of seller who are willing to sell the stock with their asking price and quantity they want to sell. The uncolored number on the side tells us how many people are posting at that price.

The table at the top can be read as follows, there are four buyers who would like to buy a total of 24,820 share at 78.2 and vice versa with the ask column.

Therefore an exchange of share happens when there are meeting of the requirements between the people who wants to buy and a person who want to sell, that’s why the term stock exchange is used.

To Your Success!!!