Stock market bid/ask?

Question

I understand what they are but what does 34.90 (x 12000) what does that mean?

Bid: 22.72 x 8300

Ask: 22.73 x 5900

Also when the stock is trading and the bid/ask says n/a does that mean you buy and sell what the stock is trading at?

okay so I now know the 8300 is the amount of shares but do you have to buy or sell that many or could you just buy or sell 100?

also how do you day trade? I thought you would buy a stock at 24.04 and if it rose to 24.06 you'd sell it? With the bid/ask is that possible?

Answer 1

Barney is close.  When you see 22.72x8300 that means that the best price bid is 22.72 and the number of all shares being bid for at that price is 8300.  There can be multiple bidders at the same price.  

When you're day trading, you need to think of it as you've lost the amount of the spread as soon as you transaction is done.  The stock has to move at least as much as the spread before you break even.

Answer 2

What you're looking at is what is called a floor quote or a quote & size.

There is some one bidding 22.72 and this is a solid bid for up to 8300 shares.  But sellers would not have to sell 8300 shares to get that price,

There is someone offering stock up to 5900 shares at 22.73 but the buyer would not have to buy all 5900 shares,

If you have to ask how to day trade, you shouldn't do it until you have educated yourself about the markets and the products traded in those market.

Everything depends on the current bid/ask, you buy on the ask and you sell on the bid.   You can enter another bid )or ask), but you'll have to wait for an execution,   The highest bid and the lowest offering is always the current market quote