Thursday, August 9, 2007

Google Spreadsheets - Useful feature for stock investors

Almost every stock investor that we talk to during our user visits makes use of a spreadsheet to compile the data they have researched and many use their own formula to help decide when it is optimal to trade a stock. Google Spreadsheets has included Finance formulas so you can do all this and more.Within Google Spreadsheets you can select the Formula tab and follow the more >> link on the top right. "Here are a couple examples using the formula: * To insert the current volume of Google stock: =GoogleFinance("GOOG"; "volume") * To insert the current price of Google stock: =GoogleFinance("GOOG") and =GoogleFinance("GOOG"; "price") * Alternatively, the stock symbol and/or the attribute values can come from spreadsheet cells. For example, the function can be: =GoogleFinance(A2, B1) In this case, the attribute specified as a string in cell B1 would be returned for the stock symbol in cell A2." "GOOG" can be substituted by any stock code. Using this approach you can set up your portfolios and watchlists and have the data be updated continually.The details of all the stock and mutual fund data that you can pull into the spreadsheet can be found on this help page.
~~The End~~