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How do I get a stock quote in real-time?

Your online brokerage platform lets you monitor quotes for stocks, exchange traded funds (ETFs) and other funds, in real-time. 

Here’s how to check a quote on the online brokerage platform:

Welcome to our video on How to get a quote using the National Bank Direct Brokerage platform. Once logged into your brokerage account, you can always get a quote regardless of where you are on the platform, by clicking on Get a quote, located in the upper right-hand corner.

A new window will then appear, this is where the stock or ETF symbol will be added to get a real time quote. For example, you'd like to know the last price for the symbol BCE. Simply type in the symbol and we can see the first one on the list is the one we want. If the symbol is not known, we can also search by typing in the name of the company.

Then click on the correct stock by selecting the symbol. We will then be redirected to our detailed quotes page. On this page we have a lot of useful information at our fingertips. Let's take a few moments and go through this page.

The quote information on this page is a snapshot in real time and to refresh it, we need to click the double arrow icon.

Firstly, we have the symbol, name, exchange that the security is trading on, and the country shown as a flag. The last price, the day's change in dollars, in percentage and the volume, all in real time. Right below we have the key quote info, here we have the bid and ask, and the number of shares available at those prices. The BID is the highest price an investor is willing to pay to purchase the shares, while the ASK is the lowest price a seller is willing to accept to sell their shares.

Moving to the right we have additional detailed quote information that we can consult on BCE. For dividend-paying securities, we have the indicated dividend, the ex-dividend date, the annual yield, the upcoming payment date and the dividend frequency. Investors who want an options quote on their security can click on the options tab to access the option pricing chain. Next, we have the financial tab which provides information on ratios, dividends, growth rates, profitability ratios as well as other details.

Moving further down the page, starting on the left-hand side we have the securities performance shown over different time periods. Next to it we have a chart where you can view the share price progress under different time periods which can be customized by clicking on expand.

If we scroll down slightly, we have the earnings estimates, recent news, events and the company's business profile.

Now in addition to providing share price information, our quote section can also be used as a gateway to other tools and research that can help you manage your investments or help in your decision making.

By scrolling back up the page, next to the real time quote price we have stock ratings provided by National Bank Financial and Morningstar research which use fundamental analysis. There is also an average analyst rating and to the right we have a technical analysis events summary. Green for bullish and red for bearish events on the security. By clicking on them or selecting the Analysis tab, additional information will be displayed such as: the expected price target in the next 12 months and the most recent research reports that can be consulted.

Moving further along we can quickly access the watch list, which allows you to build lists of securities to view quotes in real time with just a click. With the comparison tool, quickly compare up to four securities using different criteria. By setting an alert, you can monitor securities you are following or that are held in your portfolio and receive alerts via email when important events have occurred.

If we scroll down again, investors who would like to analyze their security using technical analysis can select the technical insight tab. Next to it we have Fundamental

Insight, which can be used to analyze a security using different investment factors such as Growth, Value, Income or Quality. Or compare the security with other similar ones that might have better scores.

To the right of that tab, we have OptionsPlay which can provide help in choosing option strategies as well as strike price and expiration dates.

As you can see there's a lot of information that can assist you in making your investment decisions. Please consult our other videos to learn more about them.

This concludes our video on how to get a quote using the National Bank Direct Brokerage platform.

Understanding prices

There are several prices (also known as “quotes”) for the same stock, and these prices change constantly during a trading session.

  • The last price is the price at which the last transaction on that security took place.
  • The bid price is the highest price at which buyers are willing to purchase a security.
  • The ask price is the lowest price sellers are willing to accept to dispose of a security.
  • The opening price is the price at which the first transaction of the day took place on a security.
  • The closing price is the price at which the last transaction of the day took place on a security.

A buyer looking to buy a security at the market price must therefore look at the ask price, while a seller must look at the bid price.

Visit the Stock Market Basics section of our Learning Centre to learn more about how stock markets work.