How to "read" the tape

How to "read" the tape

By looking at time and sales "you can learn a lot about how the stock trades. As I see every trade going with quote service can be seen if demand is picking up or slowing down. This is a form of tape reading and it takes some time to learn, but it is crucial to being a good trader. Is there more trades at the bid or ask, in other words there are more buyers or sellers. Also, look at the volume of trades going, they are 1000 shares, 100 shares , big blocks? This may also help to determine whether there are enough serious buyers willing to move the stock. Also, you might want to watch the stock swing, which means that it is beginning to trade faster? Or simply like to swim? Dynamics moves stocks, so if there are not enough buyers (or sellers) shares could languish. Or the stock have a number of buyers, but not higher tick? This may be an indication of weakness, or that there large number of shares for sale question.
Also keep track of supply and Ask Size Size. If the bid size is greater than the ask size this may indicate (not always) that the action is stronger. For example, if the bid size is 5000 and Ask size is 1000, this may show more strength than if the bid size is 1000 and Ask size is the 5000th Remember that this is not absolute, but only indicator taken into account. If all this seems confusing, try this simple exercise. Pull up an offer for all shares, preferably with a good daily range as BT or Vodafone, and every 5 minutes to write down the supply, demand, request a quote size and the size of stocks. Song in the day. This may seem a lot of time at first but it will help you learn how to "read" the tape. We'll see how stock acts when it is "strong" and it acts as a park when it is "weak."