Level 1 Quotes
Level 1 quotes the real-time bid/ask quotes for securities trading on the Nasdaq and Over The Counter (OTC) Bulletin Board Service. The Nasdaq level 1 quote window is broken out into 5 key components: (1) Bid Price, (2) Bid Size, (3) Ask Price, (4) Ask Size, and (5) Last Price.
Level 1 Components
Bid Price
This is the price at which a buyer is willing to execute an order.
Bid Size
The size of the pending buy order.
Ask Price
This is the price at which a seller is willing to execute an order.
Last Price
This is the most recent price at which an order was executed.
Last Size
This is the last size at which an order was executed.
Level 1 and Day Trading
Level 1 quotes are standard with most online day trading applications for free or a small nominal fee. This information is critical in order to be able to assess the order flow in the market. Day traders can start out looking at the Level 1 window, but in order to take it to the next level, Level II quotes are required. This is because level 2 provides more information about not only the current orders, but all of the current active buy and sell orders in the market.
Level 1 Trading Window
Below is an example of a Level 1 trading window. Notice how the buy and sell orders are displayed for the stock Vodafone.
