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Isn't the difference that a stock is only traded on a single exchange? If stocks were traded on multiple exchanges, and the value was reported as the average ac
by jsmeaton 9y ago
Isn't the difference that a stock is only traded on a single exchange? If stocks were traded on multiple exchanges, and the value was reported as the average across all of them, then that number would be just as made up.
- patd 9y agoA lot of stocks are trading on multiple exchanges. Unilever and Shell trade on the NY, London and Amsterdam stock exchanges. People typically use the one closer to them geographically or from a currency point of view. And things like gold or oil barrels also have multiple exchanges.
- tantalor 9y agoUnilever is actually 2 companies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilever#Legal_structure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilever#Legal_structure Unilever plc and Unilever N.V. ...operate as nearly as practicable as a single economic entity, whilst remaining separate legal entities with different shareholders and separate stock exchange listings
- barnabee 9y agoStocks are also traded on many different order books [1], each of which will have different prices, so the quoted price is just as made up (although usually by ignoring all but one venue rather than averaging across them). Also worth noting that for both stocks and cryptocurrencies, the price that is shown is almost always the last traded price not a quote for a price you could trade at anyway. [1] in the US, for example: https://www.sec.gov/foia/docs/atslist.htm https://www.sec.gov/foia/docs/atslist.htm