Stock Quotes and Stock Quote Services

Free online stock quote services abound. And add-ons can dazzle
By Daniel Kehrer, Founder & CEO BizBest Media Corp. Want free stock quotes online? Dive in! But be a savvy stock quote consumer. While websites offering free stock quotes are abundant, the quality and usefulness of the tools, add-ons and information surrounding the free quotes vary dramatically.
 

The trick is not simply finding quotes. That's easy. It's finding a website that not only provides the quotes, but also:

     1) Has them with a minimum delay (most free quotes are delayed 15-20 minutes).
     2) Offers a sophisticated service (also free) that lets you create and track quotes for multiple, customized portfolios of stocks that you select -- perhaps stocks you own, or simply want to watch.
     3) Lets you select your own customized view of information on each portfolio, including such things as current bid/ask prices, 12-month high/low, P/E ratio, dividend and yield, last trade, volume, shares owned and price paid, or dozens of others.
     4) Offers "streaming quotes" which constantly and automatically update while you are logged on. Some let you turn this feature on and off.
     5) Doesn't inundate you unduly with obnoxious ads and sales pitches. Since quotes are free, you have to expect a little of this. But some sites are subtle; others use brickbats.
     6) Links to the latest news stories, government filings, company financials and buy/sell recommendations on the stocks you've selected.
     7) Stock price charts that you can customize to different time periods, from a day to 5+ years.
     8) And yes, all of the above should be free. Plus, the site should offer other stock investment resources, both free and paid, such as research reports and real-time quotes (which usually cost money, compared to free but delayed quotes).

Get free stock quotes, portfolio tracking and more all in one place

Some major sites you may already visit offer impressive stock quote and custom portfolio tracking
Try: Yahoo! Finance is a fabulous (and free) place where you can satisfy your hunger for stock quotes and a whole lot more, including company financials, historical prices, news and market stats. The "Stock Watch" service will alert you by email when a stock rises or falls according to criteria you set. At CNBC.com you can create as many stock "watch lists" as you want. Likewise, MarketWatch has free tools for quotes, alerts, portfolios and charting that are easy to use. And just about every brokerage firm website on the planet offers stock quotes, too. But unless you have an account there, you'll get more punch at sites like Yahoo, MarketWatch and CNBC.  

Eliminate delays with real-time quotes

Real-time quotes deliver stock pricing as it's happening with no delays.
Try: While delayed stock quotes are free, real-time stock quote services generally charge a fee. MarketTracker, Yahoo! Finance's real-time quote service, for example, charges $10.95 per month billed annually ($13.95 billed monthly). Another service, eSignal, offers an arsenal of streaming, real-time stock quotes and charts that you can customize, plus seminars on successful stock trading tactics. PC Quote offers a menu of web-based products from dynamically updating real-time data to free delayed market quotes. FreeRealTime.com is among the few sites offering some types of real time info free.

See our other stock investing How-To Guides

How-To Guides on Work.com and Business.com can help you locate all the tools and resources you need to be successful at investing in stocks.
Try: Other top-rated How-To Guides on successful stock market investing include: Stock Trading: Success in both bull and bear markets; Stocks (Equities) and Stock Investing; and Online Stock Trading: How to buy and sell stocks like the pros.