On the front lines trading Boeing stock

You may not know Damien Valentino, but he knows Boeing.

Valentino, a vice president at Spear, Leeds & Kellogg, the largest of the seven main specialist firms that work within the New York Stock Exchange, and the specialist that trades Boeing, is literally the guy who gets Boeing stock trades done on the NYSE floor. He ensures that Boeing shareholders can buy and sell stock virtually on demand.

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A stock answer: terms used at the exchange

To the outside world, it might seem like investors, brokers and specialists speak in code. Here are a few terms often heard in the stock trading world.

Ask: The lowest price per share an investor will accept to sell a stock

Bid: The price per share a potential buyer is willing to pay for a stock

Block: A large amount of stock sold as a single unit. The term is most often used to describe a unit of 1,000 shares or more.

Limit order: An order to buy a stock at or below a specified price, or to sell a stock at or above a specified price

Market order: An order to purchase or to sell at the best price at the moment

Spread: The price-per-share difference between what buyers will pay and what sellers are seeking

Volume: The total number of shares traded, of an individual security or in the entire market, in a given period of time