It's entirely possible that either the stock or market may be volatile, but that's in addition not, instead of, the drop in value resulting from a dividend payo

It's entirely possible that either the stock or market may be volatile, but that's in addition not, instead of, the drop in value resulting from a dividend payout. So, if we have a $100 stock with a 3% yield paid 4x a year, then the stock will drop $0.75 on the ex-date. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you have some combination of market/stock volatility that moves the stock $4 in either direction. So, in the case of the stock going up $4, on the ex-date, it would go up $3.25. In the case of the stock going down $4, on the ex-date it would go down $4.75. Yes - it's true that if you are just looking at a stock chart, it might be hard to eyeball the date of the dividend if there is a lot of volatility, but, presuming that volatility is evenly distributed over various stocks dividend dates, there is no way to avoid having the stock drop down by the value of the dividend. I guarantee you there is a pretty large number of investment bankers who have all sorts of models that arbitrage that kind of variance, pretty much eliminating any gap, should it exist for more than a few seconds after opening. I don't understand how the ex-date could occur after the distribution date. The whole idea behind the ex-date, is that is the date on which the dividend belongs to the seller, not the buyer. I.E. If I buy the stock on (or after) the ex-date, I do not get the dividend, it belongs to the seller. Depending on the exchange, it's usually two business days prior to the date of record set by the board of directors. (At least on the SGX, the exchange I'm familiar with). So how could you place the ex-date after the distribution date? What would the date of record be in that case? Here is my favorite resource on this topic - http://www.spdrs.com.sg/education/files/SPDRU%20Dividend%20Dates%20-%20SG.pdf http://www.spdrs.com.sg/education/files/SPDRU%20Dividend%20D...