Stock quotes are always in flux. The price of a stock is changing because it underlies the laws of supply and demand. Imagine that the price of a stock on the stock exchange always reflects the value of the underlying company in the far or near future and not the current value, then you will understand that the stock price has to change in the present all time. People’s belief about the company’s future value drives the stock pricing.
Stock quotes are made by the market makers. It’s their job to make the market in a stock and therefore they have to post a current bid and ask price at all times during market hours.
The bid price is the price where the market maker will buy from you. The ask price is the price where he sells to you. You must always buy the higher ask and can only sell to the lower bid price. The difference is called the spread and it is the income of the market maker.
If you put yourself in the role of the market maker then you will understand how it works. He has to buy or sell from you even when he has nobody else to trade with. That’s his job but it has big risks. The only way to control this risk is to control the...