Understanding Investing 2

Ex-Dividend Date: This is the date on which your next dividend will be paid out. When you purchase a stock on this date, you won't be entitled to the upcoming dividend payments.

Open: A stock that is trading at its highest price for today's trading session will have an Open that matches that price. Conversely, if it's trading at its lowest price, then its Open will match that number too. For example, let's say that the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) opens at 10,000 points. If it rises up to 10,200 today's high will become tomorrow's Open and vice versa.

Market Capitalization: A company's market capitalization is the market value of all its common stock outstanding multiplied by the current price of one share. For example, if you own ten shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL), then your market capitalization is $100. If you buy five shares in Apple, each stock will be worth $5.

Volume: Sales in a day are measured by the amount of shares traded during that time period. The higher the volume in a day, the more money has moved through that particular stock at any given point in time. This effect is called liquidity and it can be measured using volume-weighted average price (VWAP).