Where can I find information on the percentage of volume is contributed by shorts?
I believe that it's not possible for the public to know what shares are being exchanged as shorts because broker-dealers (not the exchanges) handle the shorting arrangements.  I don't think exchanges can even tell the difference between a person selling a share that belongs to her vs. a share that she's just borrowing.  (There are SEC regulations requiring some traders to declare that trades are shorts, but (a) I don't think this applies to all traders, (b) it only applies to the sells, and (c) this information isn't public.) That being said, you can view the short interest in a symbol using any of a number of tools, such as Nasdaq's here.  This is often cited as an indicator similar to what you proposed, though I don't know how helpful it would be from an intra-day perspective. "You can do a lot of deduction FINRA keeps a ""REG-SHO"" list created daily that tells what the daily short volume is. March 26th 2014's list: http://regsho.finra.org/FNSQshvol20140326.txt If you are talking about the United States, this answer may be better ;)"
"The translation scheme is detailed in IRS Publication 15, ""Employer's Tax Guide"". For the 2010 version, the information is in Section 16 on Page 37. There are two ways that employers can calculate the withheld tax amount: wage bracket and percentage. Alternatively, they can also use one of the methods defined in IRS Publication 15-A. I'll assume the person making $60k/yr with 10 allowances is paid monthly ($5000/period) and married. Using the wage bracket method, the amount withheld for federal taxes would be $83 per pay period. Using the percentage method, it would be $81.23 per pay period. I don't recommend that you use this information to determine how to fill out your W-4. The IRS provides a special online calculator for that purpose, which I have always found quite accurate. Note: ""allowances"" are not the same as ""dependents""; ""allowances"" are a more realistic estimation of your tax deductions, taking into consideration much more than just your dependents." As others have stated, the current price is simply the last price at which the security traded. For any given tick, however, there are many bid-ask prices because securities can trade on multiple exchanges and between many agents on a single exchange. This is true for both types of exchanges that Chris mentioned in his answer. Chris' answer is pretty thorough in explaining how the two types of exchanges work, so I'll just add some minor details. In exchanges like NASDAQ, there are multiple market makers for most relatively liquid securities, which theoretically introduces competition between them and therefore lowers the bid-ask spreads that traders face. Although this results in the market makers earning less compensation for their risk, they hope to make up the difference by making the market for highly liquid securities. This could also result in your order filling, in pieces, at several different prices if your brokerage firm fills it through multiple market makers. Of course, if you place your order on an exchange where an electronic system fills it (the other type of exchange that Chris mentioned), this could happen anyway.  In short, if you place a market order for 1000 shares, it could be filled at several different prices, depending on volume, multiple bid-ask prices, etc. If you place a sizable order, your broker may fill it in pieces regardless to prevent you from moving the market. This is rarely a problem for small-time investors trading securities with high volumes, but for investors with higher capital like institutional investors, mutual funds, etc. who place large orders relative to the average volume, this could conceivably be a burden, both in the price difference across time as the order is placed and the increased bookkeeping it demands.  This is tangentially related, so I'll add it anyway. In cases like the one described above, all-or-none (AON) orders are one solution; these are orders that instruct the broker to only execute the order if it can be filled in a single transaction. Most brokers offer these, but there are some caveats that apply to them specifically. (I haven't been able to find some of this information, so some of this is from memory).  All-or-none orders are only an option if the order is for more than a certain numbers of shares. I think the minimum size is 300 or 400 shares.  Your order won't be placed until your broker places all other orders ahead of it that don't have special conditions attached to them.  I believe all-or-none orders are day orders, which means that if there wasn't enough supply to fill the order during the day, the order is cancelled at market close.  AON orders only apply to limit orders. If you want to replicate the behavior of a market order with AON characteristics, you can try setting a limit buy/sell order a few cents above/below the current market price. "If the strike price closest to the underlying has high open interest, the options expiration is a bigger event.   For instance:  stock is at $20 w/ average volume of 100,000 shares per day.    20 strike has 1000 open interest.   In this example the stock will ""most likely"" pin at 20 if we were expiring tomorrow.     As u prob know, long calls at 19.90 close, turn into stock....long puts at 20.10 turn into short stock.   Option pros (high % of volume) dont want to be short or long after expiration.   Long call holders will sell above 20 to hedge, and long put holders will buy below 20.   1000 open interest is equivalent to 100,000 shares.   That's the same amount as the average volume.   Stock can't really move until after expiration.   If I am long 10 $20 calls, and short 1000 shares I am flat going into expiration.....unless the stock gets smoked and now I am synthetically long a put....Short stock + long call= Long Put Then watch out cause it was artificially locked down." "US based so I don't know how closely this translates to the UK, but generally speaking there are three things that contribute to a strong credit score. Length/volume of credit history. This is a combination of how many accounts appear in your history along with how long they have been open.  Having a series of accounts that were maintained in good standing looks better than only having one.  Maintaining an account in good standing for a prolonged period (3+ years) is better than a bunch of short term items.  ""Ideally"" your credit history should contain a mix of term loans that were paid per contract and a few (1?) revolving account that shows ongoing use.  The goal is to show that you can handle ongoing obligations responsibly, and manage multiple things at the same time. Utilization. Or how much you currently owe vs how much people have agreed to lend you.  Being close to your limits raises questions about whether or not you can really handle the additional debt.  Having large availability raises questions about whether you would be able to handle it if you suddenly maxed things out.  Finding the correct middle point can be challenging, the numbers I have seen thrown around most by the ""experts"" is 20-30% utilization. Recent Activity. Or how much new debt have you taken on?  If someone is opening lots of new accounts it raises red flags.  Shopping around for a deal on a auto loan or mortgage before settling on one is fine.  Opening 5 new credit lines in the past 6 months, probably going to knock you down a bit.  One of the concerns here is have you had the accounts long enough to demonstrate that you will be able to handle them in the long term. One route that was suggested to me in my early years was to go take out a 6mo loan from a bank, and just place the money in a CD while I made the payments.  Then repeat with a longer term.  Worst case, you can cash out the CD to pay off the loan in an emergency, but otherwise it helps show the type of history they are looking for. All that said, I have to agree with Pete B's answer.  Don't play the credit game if you don't really need to.  Or play it just enough to stay in the game and plan your finances to avoid relying on it.  (Advice I wish I had taken long ago.)" I am mostly interested in day to day records, and would like the data to contain information such as dividend payouts, and other parameters commonly available, such as on : http://finviz.com/screener.ashx ... but the kind of queries you can do is limited. For instance you can only go back two years. I've seen this tool.  I'm just having a hard time finding where I can just get a list of all the companies.    For example, you can get up to 100 results at a time, if I just search latest filings for 10-K.  This isn't really an efficient way to go about what I want. "Wow,  I cannot believe this is a question.  Of course reading the 10Ks and 10Qs from the SEC are incredibly beneficial.  Especially if you are a follower of the investing gurus such as Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, Shelby Davis.  Personally I only read the 10K's I copy the pertinent numbers over to my spreadsheets so I can compare multiple companies that I am invested in.  I'm sure there are easier ways to obtain the data.  I'm a particular user of the discounted free cash flow methodology and buying/selling in thirds. I feel like management that says what they are going to do and does it (over a period of years) is something that cannot be underestimated in investing.  yes, there are slipups, but those tend to be well documented in the 10Qs.  I totally disagree in the efficient market stuff.  I tend to love using methodologies like Hewitt Heisermans "" It's Earnings that Count"" you cannot do his power-staircase without digging into the 10Qs.  by using his methodology I have several 5 baggers over the last 5 years and I'm confident that I'll have more.  I think it is an interesting factoid as well that the books most recommended for investing in stocks on Amazon all advocate reading and getting information from 10Ks.   The other book to read is Peter Lynch's one-up-wall-street.  The fact is money manager's hands are tied when it comes to investing, especially in small companies and learning over the last 6 years how to invest on my own has given me that much more of my investing money back rather than paying it to some money manager doing more trades than they should to get commision fees." "Is there any particular area of business that you have interest?    What free resources do you currently use (general web browsing)?  Here are some magazines out there that I find interesting:  * **Fast Company** - $12.99 / Year / 10 Issues - Magazine focused on tech, innovation, leadership and design.  I don't subscribe, but I regularly purchase Fast Company, Entrepreneur,and Inc. when I am traveling.  They make for a perfect airplane read and I typically find great takeaways or clip articles from it.  * **Entrepreneur** - $11.97 / Year / 12 Issues - Obviously by the title this is catered to the entrepreneurial mindset.  It provides informational and inspirational stories from entrepreneurs and for entrepreneurs.  I enjoy reading this and probably read 3 or 4 issues per year.  I'm not a regular reader, but at times I have felt like content may run lean at times.    * **Inc** - $12.99 / Year / 10 Issues - Inc. feels like a blend of Fast Company and Entrepreneur.  The articles are aimed at the business owner for starting and running operations.  * **Businessweek** - $5 / Year / 12 Issues - I regularly read Businessweek, but primarily on their website.  I have picked up issues occasionally which are great, but their web provides a fair amount of access.  They seem to have a nice blend of news and unique stories about specific companies, products, and investment.  Recently they had interesting articles with fair depth on the CEO of Burger King, and the history of Sriracha.  * **Forbes** - $24.99 / Year / 26 Issues - I love the volume of content that Forbes provides and they seem to have a nice mix on a variety of subjects.  I use Forbes as my frontpage of the internet for business in conjunction with several others.  I actually feel like Forbes and Businessweek provide a perfect blend of business news with shocking little redundancy.  * **Harvard Business Review** - Wasn't able to quickly see a price.  I reference HBR a fair amount in regards to business discussions and think they provide excellent research material and information.  The writing style and layout isn't quite as captivating as some of the other magazines such as Fast Company, but the quality is excellent,  * **WSJ** - Obviously putting out a high volume of content, but you definitely pay for it.  I know a fair number of people who read it, but I actually have never known anyone to subscribe to it if that makes sense.  All the readers I know either receive a subscription through their work or university.  I think that shows the content is valuable and quality, but it might not justify the cost you have to pay for it as an individual reader.  I use a variety of websites to get business news, general education, and help me overall to understand the business world.  Specifically from the ones listed above I check Businessweek and Forbes daily for morning or lunch reading.  Forbes in particular does a solid job due to all of their external content contributors.  Seems like an interesting way to provide content if you can curate it correctly.    If you're more interested in the finance/investment world then I think Yahoo Finance and CNN Money are great.  Focusing specifically on investments then I really enjoy the content I get from Motley Fool and Seeking Alpha.  Some articles get pretty deep in regards to finance and investing, but overall I think they give great insight.  I read BusinessInsider, but I'll be honest I feel dirty.  Sometimes I find an interesting piece that leads me elsewhere to research more.  The content is primarily distributed in a ""Buzzfeed"" style format which has some questionable headlines and less professional content (""7 Crazy Facts That Sound Fake But Are Actually True"").  In Summary, I think you could learn a good amount on a variety of topics while staying plugged into news and developments in the business world for free.  I'm sure a few other people will chime in with other great sources that I didn't capture and some that I didn't even know existed.  I would start by reading a few of these sites I listed regularly and continue posting in this sub to help us keep the conversation going!"