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2. Financial Background and Terminology
Intraday Data
London Stock Exchange (LSE) and FTSE supply real time prices for UK listed
shares and FTSE indices in ShareScope Pro. The data is delayed by 15 minutes
in ShareScope Plus.
All of ShareScope’s US data (NASDAQ, NYSE, AMEX) and many international
indices (CAC, DAX, S&P 500 and Dow Jones) are supplied by Comstock, a
division of Interactive Data Corporation (NYSE: IDC). Comstock is a leading
provider of market data solutions to the global financial community.
Ionic processes the data and within about a tenth of a second passes the data
on to you. Depending on your internet connection this data will be available on
your computer within another two or three tenths of a second.
The data is input at numerous stockbrokers and market makers around
the country and is not checked, either by the LSE or by Ionic Information,
before it goes out. On rare occasions data is input incorrectly. This may be
corrected with a counter trade but it will always produce either a temporary or
a permanent spike. (See Page 14 for a de-spiking option to detect any one-off
price spikes.)
Terminology
Offer The best (lowest) quoted price available if you want to buy shares.
Bid The best (highest) quoted price available if you want to sell shares.
The Bid is usually higher than the Offer, unless there is an auction
taking place, in which case they are temporarily reversed.
Mid The average of the bid and the offer.
Spread The difference between the bid price and the offer price.
Tick A change in the trade price.
Trade A transaction. The LSE doesn’t indicate if it is a buy or a
sell; this is inferred by how close the price is to the bid or
offer.
Trade price The price of the last trade.
OHLCV Data
There are a variety of different ways of calculating Open, High, Low, Close
and Volume. For the LSE market we use: “London Market Information Link -
Recommended Display and Derived Information Guidelines”. This is currently
available at www.londonstockexchange.com/cmsattach/940.pdf. For all other
markets we use the local rules and guidelines. See the LSE document for full
details.