# Commsec's most popular shares



## Tyler Durden (1 July 2011)

I've always wondered, what the hell does this mean?

As a beginner, my first interpretation was that it showed what was sold and bought the most on the day. However, there are two problems with that:

1. Most popular 'buys' seems to imply that the SP went up, but when you check LYC for today, it actually went down. So how does the SP go down if it was the most popular buy???

2. Let's just say the most popular buy had 2000 buys. That would also mean 2000 sells, right? So everything balances out???

I'm sure there are simple answers, please excuse my dumbness


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## economictrader (2 July 2011)

Tyler Durden said:


> View attachment 43475
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> 
> I've always wondered, what the hell does this mean?
> ...




I can't really "answer" your question, but I would think you'd also have to note that it is "*Comsec's* Most Popular Shares' .... can we not then assume that e-Trade, Westpac or BellDirect may have different (or even opposite) "Most popular shares" that would effectively negate such an increase in price (using LYC example)? ? ? ?


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## nulla nulla (2 July 2011)

Tyler Durden said:


> View attachment 43475
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> 
> I've always wondered, what the hell does this mean?
> ...




The list is only an indication of which shares are being bought or sold by comsec members. It doesn't imply that they are buying or selling to each other. 
Additionaly volume buying of shares does not indicate the price is going up. Probably the alternative as comsec bargain hunters buy a share that the price is falling. Nor does volume selling imply a falling price, it could just as easily mean holders are selling taking advantage of a rising price.


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## LiL_JaSoN (2 July 2011)

commsec and westpac is the same.


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## bellenuit (2 July 2011)

Tyler Durden said:


> View attachment 43475
> 
> 
> I've always wondered, what the hell does this mean?
> ...




I am just guessing, but perhaps they are not counting the number of shares bought/sold, but the number of lots bought/sold (number of buyers/sellers).

So if 1 buyer buys a single lot of 10,000 BHP, but the sell side of that transaction consists of 10 sellers selling 1000 shares each, then that adds 1 to the buy side and 10 to the sell side in the popularity stakes. So the number of people who think the price will fall are 10 times the number who think it will rise (if this was the total trades in BHP for that day)


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## economictrader (2 July 2011)

LiL_JaSoN said:


> commsec and westpac is the same.




???


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## LiL_JaSoN (2 July 2011)

economictrader said:


> ???




sorry,

commsec and westpac uses the same platform, so the data on them two are identical just to let you know.


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## economictrader (2 July 2011)

LiL_JaSoN said:


> sorry,
> 
> commsec and westpac uses the same platform, so the data on them two are identical just to let you know.




Ah ok. Interesting. I didn't know that. Any other online brokers share the same platform ?


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