Your investing questions, our clear answers.

Our response:

The current price is the market price and represents the last traded price of a share/unit of a stock, currency, commodity or precious metal that is traded on an exchange. It is the most reliable indicator of that security’s present value.

A term that may also be helpful to know is market value which represents the value of a company according to the financial markets. It is calculated by multiplying the current price of a stock (or other type of security) by the total number of outstanding shares/units. As an example, company XYZ Inc. currently sells on an exchange for $10.00 a share with 400,000 outstanding shares. Based on this XYZ Inc.’s market value would be, $10.00 x 400,000 = $4,000,000. XYZ would be said to have a market value or a market capitalization of four million dollars.

It may also be helpful to review the website, investmentreporting.ca which helps investors navigate the annual reports you receive from your investment firm. You can speak to the investment firm if you want to know more about your account’s performance or you have specific questions about the value of a certain security.