Financial Markets For The Rest Of Us An Easy Guide To Money, Bonds, Futures, Stocks, Options, And Mutual Funds
Page 103
The following table shows some key market data on gold futures
maturing in April 2000.
Gold Futures: April 2000
Last: 301.50
Exchange: COMEX
Change: -0.90
Bid: 301.50
Previous Day's Vol.: 19378
Ask: 301.70
Open: 302.40
High: 303.50
Open Interest: 83437
Low: 301.40
Previous Settle: 302.40
Most Recent Settle: N/A
As you can see this is very similar to a stock quote table. Let’s look at
some of the elements: Last — The most recent price at which these contracts were traded. Change — The contract’s price difference between the last day’s
settlement and now. Previous Day’s Volume — The number of contracts traded on the
previous day. Open — The opening price of the contracts for today. Open Interest — The number of contracts that are open as of now
and that have not yet been settled. Previous Settle — The closing price of the contracts for the previous
day. Exchange — The exchange where the contracts are traded. Bid — The highest current price buyers are willing to pay for the
contract. Ask — The lowest current price asked by the sellers for the contract. High — Today’s highest price so far. …