How to Read a Stock Ticker

Identify the ticker for your stock exchange. Financial websites and television stations may have multiple scrolling tickers. Business television stations may have up to three tickers displayed at one time.
Look for the company name, which is the first part of the ticker. If there is no company name, look it up using the stock symbol.
Read the stock ticker symbol, which is usually one to four letters long. NYSE stock symbols consist of up to three letters, while NASDAQ stock symbols consist of four letters. Some stock symbols may contain extensions, such as '.A' for a Class A stock or '.B' for a Class B stock. Class A shareholders typically have more voting rights than Class B shareholders.
Read the last-trade information, which may be of the format 'volume @ price.' For example, '14K @ 20' means the last trade was 14,000 shares at $20 each. The letters 'K' and 'M' mean 1,000 and 1 million, respectively.
Examine the price-change information, which consists of an up or down arrow and an amount. The arrows indicate whether the price has moved up or down since the last trading session and the amount indicates by how much. Some stock tickers may use color codes to indicate up and down price movements.

How to Invest in Vietnam's Stock Market (5 Steps)

Know the market. Vietnam is still a communist country, and its foray into a traditional stock market is fairly recent. The Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange is the country's primary stock exchange, and it is the only way for foreigners to directly access shares in Vietnamese stocks. Foreigners cannot own more than 49% of any Vietnamese stock.
Find a broker. This is the tricky part. If you're not able to travel to Vietnam to purchase your desired shares directly from the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, you have to find a broker that has access to the market. Few American brokers have access to Vietnam's stock market, and the ones that do will charge investors heavy fees for the privilege of investing there. Another option to consider is opening an account with a Vietnamese brokerage firm, but keep in mind they are not as well-capitalized as their American peers, and there is little or no protection for American investors in these accounts in the event of a brokerage failure or political unrest.
Prior to buying shares directly off the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange, foreign investors need to file a registration form, an applicant information sheet and a background check for criminal activity with Vietnamese regulators.Notaries both in the investor's home country and the Vietnamese embassy must review the documents.
If you open an account with a Vietnamese custodian broker, the broker will request that you fund the account with the currency of your home country, not Vietnam's local currency. For example, American investors must fund their accounts with American dollars.
You can place stock orders in person at the exchange in Ho Chi Minh City, at a custodian broker's office or via phone, fax or online.

How to Report Stock Loss on an Income Tax Return

Obtain Form 8949 for Form 1040. This form can be downloaded from the Internal Revenue Service website. Tax software should ask you if you have any capital gains or losses to report.
Determine whether your stock was a long-term or short-term holding. Stocks held less than one year are classified as short-term holdings.
Fill out the information about your particular stock in part I of Form 8949 if the stock was held short term and part II if the stock was held long term. You will need to know the date you purchased the stock, the amount you paid for the stock, the date you sold the stock and the amount you received when the stock was sold. The totals on page one and two of Form 8949 will carry over to Schedule D.
Follow the instructions on the Schedule D to finish computing the total amount of your loss and the amount of the loss you can claim in the current year. There is a limit to the amount of capital loss that can be claimed in a given tax year. You may carry over any unclaimed loss for use in future tax years.
Record the amount of loss calculated on line 21 of Schedule D and on line 13 (capital gains and losses section) of Form 1040.
When adding the first several lines on Form 1040 to arrive at your total income, deduct the amount of the loss you reported on line 13 as a capital loss.