The term "Float"

[JMoney]

I've seen this term used many times. What exactly does this mean?

[Irishman]

The Float is the number of shares of a stock that are available for trading. Typically, a stock has X number of shares outstanding minus the number of shares held by Insiders minus the number of shares held by Institutions (if any). The number of shares remaining is the " Float".

[JMoney]

Thanks Irish. Does a float have any signifigance to a stocks performance? Does a high/low float mean anything?

[AussieTrader]

Sure does, a low float stock can move hugely if momentum kicks in. For some stocks you will see that they can trade many times their float when the action gets going, take a look at ABLE for instance float is 1.22M, they can see 5M traded in a day(this basically means people are buying and selling a small number of shares essentially to each other, crazy when you think about it!!. A stock with a high float will more likely be a bit more stable and less susceptable to momentum swings.
Mike

[agatto2]

So what ive learned is , with a large float , say over 30 or 40 million, it would take a huge amount of shares moved to move the stock just a little, but with a small float a smaller amount of shares moves the stock faster. Is that right gang?

[Ramsburg]

So what ive learned is , with a large float , say over 30 or 40 million, it would take a huge amount of shares moved to move the stock just a little, but with a small float a smaller amount of shares moves the stock faster. Is that right gang?

Hum... you cant say thats a rule... it depends how many «bag holders» this float have

But with a low float, it means that when a lot of people want to buy or sell that stocks, the prices will move easier on that direction.

best regards,

[agatto2]

Dang bagger holders