How to Read Stock Charts

Print out a sample stock chart to examine (see 'Additional Resources,' below). Stock charts can be set up on a daily, weekly or long-term format, but they all follow the same basic plan. Start at the top where you will see the stock symbol and date of the chart. Also at the top are the day's high, low, and closing prices and the volume of shares traded.
Look just below the top line of information. You will see an entry that says MA(30), MA (60) or some other number. This is the moving average. It is the average price of the stock over recent past. The number in parentheses tells you how many days the moving average covers. At the very bottom of the chart there should be a bar graph. This gives you the volume of shares traded each day the chart covers.
Examine the main graph between the top and the volume bar graph at the bottom. Each day's trading is usually represented by a short bar or 'candlestick.' The top of the bar indicates the high for that day and the bottom the low. If there is a graph line passing through these bars, it indicates the closing price.
Notice which way the graph of the stock price is pointed. If it is headed toward the upper right corner, the stock is in an upward trend. If it's pointed at the bottom right, it is in a downward trend. Sometimes the graph doesn't seem to be moving one way or the other, and traders call this a period of consolidation.
Understand the function of a stock chart. The point is to spot trends early so you can buy early in an upward trend and sell early in a downward trend. Traders use a number of indicators to do this. For example, look for price supports. A price support is a price below which the stock rarely drops. When it approaches the price support, it's likely to reverse the downward trend and start moving up. A price resistance is the same thing in reverse: a price the stock falls short of. If it gets close, the stock price tends to reverse direction and decline.

How to Calculate Daily Stock Return

Find the closing share price of a stock for the current day and the previous day on a financial website, such as Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance or MSN Money. The prices can be found by entering the stock symbol in the 'Get Quotes,' or similarly named, box near the top of the financial website's homepage.
Subtract the previous day's closing price from the current day's close. If the stock increased in value, the number will be positive. A down day will result in a negative number. For example, assume your stock finished yesterday at $24.75 and today the price fell and finished at $22. Subtract $24.75 from $22 to get negative $2.75.
Divide the result by the previous day's close and multiply by 100 to convert to a percentage. Continuing the example, divide negative $2.75 by $24.75 for a result of negative 0.1111. Multiply by 100 to get a daily stock return of -11.11 percent.

How to Calculate Stock Averages

Add the total value of stock purchased on each stock ticket. This should be on your statement or ticket. If you don't have this, take the number of shares and multiply this to the price paid per share. For example, if you purchased 100 shares of XYZ stock at $15 per share, this would be $1500.
Add the total value of each purchase together. Assume you bought XYZ three times, each time purchasing 100 shares. You paid the following prices: $15, $10, $12. You would then have spent: $1500 + $1000 + $1200 = $3700.
Add the total number of shares you have purchased. For example if you bought 100 shares of XYZ stock three times, then you would have 300 shares total.
Divide the total dollar value spent by the total shares purchased: $3700/300 = $12.33/ per share.
You might need to consider the cost per transaction paid. If you are paying a commission for buying the stock, then add the commission price into the total amount spent before dividing it by the total number of shares. If you want to know your break-even price, add the estimated sales commission to the total dollar value as well. For example, if you spent $8 for each of the three trades, then: $3700 + $8 + $8 + $8 = $3724 for the total purchase price. If you will spend $8 on the sale, then your total would be $3732 / 300 shares = $12.44 for your break-even price.

How to Stock a Wine Cellar (8 Steps)

Start with a small inventory of 50 to 100 bottles, including two cases (12 bottles each) of wine for aging and a case of your favorite drinking wine, either white or red.
Taste, taste, taste! Tasting wines will help you discover your personal preference. Avoid buying wines just because they received a high rating from professionals or friends. See if you like them before you make an investment.
Balance your inventory. Indulge in one or two wines you particularly enjoy, and mix in bottles of other varietals and regions to suit guests' palates.
Save by stocking up on aging wines in their youth when prices are lower. Talk to someone at a reputable wine shop and get suggestions on particular wines that would benefit from aging. Bordeaux, Barolo and Brunello usually take up to 10 years of aging and can be purchased for a song ($15 to $20 a bottle) in their infancy. Some whites, such as grand cru and premier cru white Burgundy, high-quality white Bordeaux, German Riesling, Sauternes and Gewu'rztraminer, can benefit from aging as well.
Add several bottles of aperitifs and dessert wines. Dry sherry, champagne and sparkling wine suit late-afternoon sipping. Sauternes, vintage port and late-harvest Rieslings offer an after-dinner treat. See How to Select Good Champagne.
Draw the line on buying more than a case of wine if it's a new vintage or blend with no proven track record for aging; the merchant won't be able to give you an accurate estimate of how long to hold onto it before drinking.
Know what you own and be able to find it quickly. Make a database of your cellar's inventory. Give each wine a location number and listing, and include the wine's name, vintage, producer, appellation, vineyard name, region, country, type (red, white, rose', sparkling and so forth), quantity owned, price paid per bottle, value (latest estimated worth), and size of bottle (half-bottle, magnum and so on).
Keep the temperature of your wine closet, refrigerator or cellar between 50 and 65 degrees F (10 and 18 C) for reds, and 45 to 60 degrees F (7 to 15 C) for whites, or as directed by the vintner or wine merchant.

How to Value Stock for an Estate

Contact the decedent's financial adviser. As the financial adviser of the estate will not want the account assets to be distributed away from his firm, he will usually be amenable to any administrative task you ask of him during the valuation of estate assets. Combined with the additional resources that a financial services firm can offer, this is usually your best option for determining stock valuations for an estate. Make sure to submit a death certificate for the decedent and whatever trust or court paperwork authorizes you to administer the estate before making your request. In addition to the stock values on the date of the decedent's death, you also want to get the stock prices from six months after this date. Known as the 'alternate valuation date,' the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) allows executors to choose either of these two dates, whichever is more advantageous for tax purposes, when filling an estate tax return. The only restriction is that the net result of the alternate valuation selection must be a reduction in both the gross value of the estate and a reduction in the overall estate tax due.
Consult historical stock data. If you cannot obtain a value from the decedent's financial adviser, you can look up your own quotes to obtain both date-of-death and alternate valuation date prices. Historical charts and prices are available on a number of financial websites, including that run by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. For estate purposes, stock valuation is obtained by deriving an average of the high and low prices of a stock on the valuation date. For example, if a stock traded at a low of $21 per share and a high of $23 per share on the date of death (or alternate valuation date), the stock price for estate purposes would be $22 per share.
Use the decedent's statements. If a stock price is otherwise unavailable, you can use the average price listed on the two statements closest to the date of death to develop an estimate of a stock's value. Usually, stock prices are easy to obtain, but in the case of an illiquid or otherwise hard-to-trade stock, historical pricing data may be difficult to find. Although this is the least reliable method of stock valuation, the IRS allows an executor to estimate if prices are reasonably close to the valuation date.

How to Find the Average Price of Common Stock

Determine the purchase prices for the common stock and the quantity of stock purchased at particular prices. For example, assume you purchased 1,000 shares of stock in Company A at $5 per share, 1,500 shares at $4 per share and 2,500 shares at $10 per share.
Multiply the purchase prices by the quantity purchased and add. Continuing the example, (1,000 x $5) + (1,500 x $4) + (2,500 x $10) = $5,000 + $6,000 + $25,000 = $36,000
Add the total number of shares purchased. Continuing the example, 1,000 + 1,500 + 2,500 = 5,000 shares.
Divide the total cost of the shares by the total number of shares: $36,000/5,000 = $7.20. This is the average price of the common stock.

How to Calculate Stock Index Futures

View the futures contract specifications for the market you wish to trade. You can find this information online or through your broker. Each futures contract represents a set quantity of the underlying instrument it tracks. In the case of stock indexes, each futures contract relates to the price level of the index in some way. For example, one DJIA futures contract has a value equal to $10 x the price of the DJIA. You can use several sources to get index prices, including CME Group, Yahoo! Finance and TFC Charts (see Resources).
Check the current price of the index futures market. After obtaining the price, use the multiplier in the futures contract specifications to determine the value of a contract. For example, if DJIA futures are trading at 10,650, the value of one contract is 10,650 x $10 or $106,500. Note that the margin needed to buy a futures contract is much less than this full value because of the amount of leverage used in the futures markets.
Calculate potential profit and loss using the tick size. In futures trading, the tick size is the minimal increment in which price can move. In DJIA futures, the tick size is one point and each tick is worth $10. Assume that the market is trading at 10,650 and you expect a bull move to 10,690. You plan to enter a trade by purchasing two contracts. Therefore, your expected profit on the trade is 40 (points) x $10 x 2 (contracts) or $800.