Setting a target price for buying or selling a stock is a good but defensive strategy that is followed to ensure that there is minimum loss. In this case, the profit will also be limited. Target price for selling is as important as the target price for buying. In stock trading, holding on to your stock for too long is not considered to be a good strategy as you may end up losing money. As such, investors set up target prices which they pass on to their brokers with the instructions that a particular stock should be bought or sold as soon as it touches the pre-determined target price.

Stock market updates and investment newsletters provide information and guidelines regarding the future trend of stocks and also advice regarding which stock to buy immediately. Based on these recommendations and many other factors such as, the credit ratings of the companies in which you wish to invest, analysts’ ratings and latest stock market news, you can set up target prices for buying and selling a stock.

However, you will still have to speculate about the time when you would like to pull the trigger for buying or selling. For instance, if you have set a target price for buying a stock at $4 a share and the price comes up to $4.10 a share and you keep waiting thinking that within a day it might touch $4, you might be in for a shock if the trend reverses and the stock starts moving up. You would be repenting that you stuck to your target price and lost a golden opportunity.

Similarly, if after doing a lot of researchyou set the target price for selling a stock at $6, the stock goes up to $5.85 and you keep hoping that it will touch $6 eventually. If the stock starts moving down, you would have to rush to sell the stock at whatever price you can gather, unless you have the financial capacity to hold on to the stock till its next revival. But you will not make any money till you sell what you have bought. The profit will come only when you sell, otherwise it is just a notional profit on paper.

It is obvious that target prices should be set after a lot of research that would give you a fair idea of the growth potential of the stock. Going through a rationale process based on analysis of the project performance and financial statements over a specified period of time will enable you to set the target prices.

A graduate of the US Air Force Academy and a MBA with Finance majors from the University of Colorado. He started investing in high school and continued to invest throughout his career in the US Air Force, Bank of America Corp, Coopers & Lybrand and Ross Perot. 

Quality and quantity are two major decisive aspects while determining most active stocks. At times, investors eye for shares of a moderate company with a good value instead of a share from a good company with moderate value. Actually, it is prudent to invest in a good company offering moderate price. The prospect of its stock becoming active is quite real. So, qualitative selection is essential when the hunt for most active stocks is on. Bigger corporations with high brand value are worthy as these companies work with high contingency plans. Moreover, they work with better economic will to prevail within the competitive market.

It can be presumed that the process of analyzing the most active stocks differ from the way we pick and choose the penny stocks of lesser value. Good brands and popular names dominate the market and its trends. Still, it is worth mentioning that the stock market cannot be predicted and it is essential to track the index. Ups and downs of the most active stocks are usually reflected through the business news channels, online portals and newsletters. For this, the risk is lesser with the popular stocks from leading corporations.

A question might arise in the mind of investors “what are the most active stocks?” Well, it is not a one line solution. Today’s most active stock might not be tomorrow. So, by benchmarking performance of the popular stocks, it is possible to draw a conclusion. There are several market conditions that influence performance of stocks. Some investors make huge fortunes with shares while many others lose their belongings. It is constant study and monitoring of the reputed web portals that makes the difference. Many investors consider stocks with lower prices, especially when the major stocks fare poorly, and their prices go down drastically. It is the ideal time to buy them as possibilities of potential growth remains high.

Presently few of the most active stocks are as follows:

• BAC Bank Of America Corporation
• GE General Electric Co
• C Citigroup Inc
• F Ford Motor Co
• PFE Pfizer Inc
• CIM Chimera Investment Corp
• RF Regions Financial Corp
• MS Morgan Stanley
• MGM Mgm Resorts International
• WFC Wells Fargo & Co
• JPM JPMorgan Chase & Co
• BSX Boston Scientific Corp
• MRK Merck & Co Inc New
• NOK Nokia Corp
• S Sprint Nextel Corp
• ALU Alcatel-Lucent

It is impossible to provide definite status and stature of the most active stocks under the volatile market conditions. The position and value of stocks keep changing rapidly, and only with the suggestion of the financial experts can the target price be analyzed. To know more about the most active stocks it is advisable to subscribe to the popular stock newsletters. Online stock trading is in vogue, to get information of the active stocks, self research and comparative analysis of the reputable news portals are very important.