Historical Stock Quotes

One of the common instruments used by traders and stock market analysts to create an investment strategy is the historical stock quote. As the name implies, historical stock quotes refer to the prices of a given stock at a particular time in the past. One of the oft-repeated words of wisdom in stock investing is that past performance do not guarantee future results. The hot stock last season may very well be a sinking ship today. But this doesn't discount the fact that a stock's past record can be used as one of the bases for analyzing and predicting its future charts.

There are a lot of sites that provide historical stock quotes as well as other relevant historical information. Some resources feature a date range wherein you can view the quotes for a given week or month. Others also provide a downloadable file that is already in spreadsheet format for easier viewing.

When analyzing historical stock quotes, it is important to take stock splits into account. Stock splits happen when a company divides its outstanding shares, thus lowering the stock price for each share. The market capitalization doesn't change though. For instance, if you own 500 shares of Company A at $20 per share and management decides to split the stock two-for-one (one share is divided into two), you will then be given an additional 500 shares but the stock price will be $10 per share. The overall stock value doesn't change but the stock quotes do.

When the historical stock quotes of Company A are examined at face value, it may seem like the stock price nosedived big time. It is important then to find out first if a stock split has occurred before making an analysis of the historical stock quotes you have obtained.