Barchart Site FAQs

Q: What time zone is used on the site?

A: Futures and Forex prices are shown in Central Standard Time (CST), while Equities, Funds, and ETF prices are shown in Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Q: What time span constitutes a Forex trading day?

A: Trading hours for a Forex trading day are 16:00 - 15:59 Central Standard Time (CST).

Q: How often are the pages on Barchart.com updated?

A: For Stocks, prices are delayed 15 minutes, per exchange rules. For Futures and Forex, prices  are delayed 10 minutes, per exchange rules.

Prices are automatically updated every 10 seconds during the first minute you visit a page. You will see the quoteboard cells flash yellow, indicating new data has been received. After the first minute, new price information is updated every 1 minute thereafter.

Also, all Barchart analysis (Opinions and Technicals) and ranking pages (52 Week Highs/Lows, What's Hot/Not, Price Advances, etc.) are updated every 10 minutes throughout the trading day. This gives you a true sense of where the market is heading for any given ticker symbol or commodity.

The Profile, Key Statistics, Ratios , Income Statements and Balance Sheets are updated daily before the market opens.

Daily prices are updated at 8pm CT for futures or 9pm ET for equities pages.


Q: Can I resort the columns on a quote page?

A: Almost every quote page on the website allows you to click on the column headings to sort the data in ascending or descending order. This gives you maximum flexibility when viewing quote data.

Q: What do you mean by short-term, medium-term, and long-term indicators (used in Barchart Opinions)?

A: Short-term, medium-term, and long-term are relative terms, but are defined by the number of days the studies go over. (The number of days are the numbers next to the studies).

Short term studies are calculated using the following.

• 7 Day ADX, which used 7 trading days.
• 10-8 M.A. HiLo Channel, which uses 10 trading days.
• 20 Day M.A., which uses 20 trading days.
• 20-50 MACD, which used 50 trading days.
• 20 Day Bollinger Band, which uses 20 trading days.

These are the number of days taken into consideration to calculate the results of each study. So the Short-term opinions can use up to 50 days of data (20-50 MACD) and as little as 7 days (ADX) to calculate the different results. The signals all use historical data, so a short-term buy signal means the price has been going up recently. The signals are an indicator of what the market has done; they do not indicate what the market will do in the future. That is left to the users' interpretation.

Q: How do I follow Class A and Class B stocks?

A: When there is more than one kind of stock, they are often designated as Class A or Class B shares. On our Quotes & Data page, this is signified on the NYSE and Amex by a period and then a letter following the ticker symbol. For instance, Berkshire Hathaway Class A shares trade as BRK.A, whereas Berkshire Class B shares trade as BRK.B. On the Nasdaq stock market, the class of stock becomes a fifth letter in the ticker symbol. For example, Bel Fuse trades under the tickers BELFA (the Class A shares) and BELFB (the Class B shares). This is also true for Class C shares, Class D shares ....

NYSE and Amex preferred stocks are processed with a "-" in place of the exchange transmitted "p". Example Ford Motor preferred stock "FpS" can be viewed as "F-S".

Warrant Stocks are processed with a ".W in place of the exchange transmitted "/WS". Example Conseco In Warrant A "CNO/WS" can be viewed as "CNO.W". Only Warrant stocks will be sent down ending with a ".W".

Q: What is the significance of the lower case letter sometimes found after the exchange on the quote page?

This is the financial status indicator. The Financial Status Indicator is a new data element that denotes if an NYSE/AMEX or NASDAQ-listed issuer has failed to submit its regulatory filings on a timely basis, has failed to meet continuing listing standards, and/or has filed for bankruptcy.

The financial status indicator can be one of the following.

Nasdaq securities - code description
1. d Deficient: Issuer Failed to Meet NASDAQ Continued Listing Requirements
2. e Delinquent: Issuer Missed Regulatory Filing Deadline
3. q Bankrupt: Issuer Has Filed for Bankruptcy
4. g Deficient and Bankrupt
5. h Deficient and Delinquent
6. j Delinquent and Bankrupt
7. k Deficient, Delinquent, and Bankrupt

NYSE/AMEX securities - code description
1. 1 Bankrupt
2. 2 Below continuing listing standards
3. 3 Bankrupt & below continuing listing standards
4. 4 Late filing
5. 5 Bankrupt & late filing
6. 6 Below continuing listing standards & late filing
7. 7 Bankrupt, below continuing listing standards & late filing

Q: Where can I find the commodity symbol codes?

A list of all commodity symbols can be found at our Building a Futures Symbol Page. To get the cash/spot price of any commodity, simply use Y00 instead of a commodity contract month and year. (that is the number zero, NOT the letter O).

You may also find a commodity symbol using the End-of-Day Futures Prices by Exchange page.

Q: What data does a "nearby" and "continuous" futures contract contain?

Nearby and continuation futures records include price data for the front month contract up to the prior day before expiration.

Q: All Nasdaq stocks have a four or five letter ticker symbol. What does the fifth letter of a Nasdaq ticker symbol mean?

• A Class A.
• B Class B.
• C Exempt from Nasdaq listing requirements for a limited period of time.
• D A new issue of an existing stock. (Often the result of a reverse split.)
• E Delinquent in required filings with the SEC as determined by the NASD.
• F Foreign.
• G First Convertible Bond.
• H Second Convertible Bond, same company.
• I Third Convertible Bond, same company.
• J Voting.
• K Non-voting.
• L Miscellaneous situations such as foreign preferred, preferred when-issued, a second class of units, a third class of warrants, or a sixth class of preferred stock.
• M Fourth preferred, same company.
• N Third preferred, same company.
• O Second preferred, same company.
• P First preferred.
• Q In bankruptcy proceedings.
• R Rights.
• S Shares of beneficial interest.
• T With warrants or with rights.
• U Units.
• V When-issued and when-distributed.
• W Warrants.
• X Mutual Fund.
• Y ADR (American Depositary Receipts).
• Z Miscellaneous situations such as a second class of warrants, a fifth class of preferred stock, a stub, a foreign preferred when-issued, or any unit, receipt, or certificate representing a limited partnership interest.