Must-know before buying stocks: How many shares are in one Taiwan stock? How to calculate US and Hong Kong stocks?

Many investors are often confused when they first encounter stocks — why do US stocks seem so cheap to buy, but stocks in Taiwan require so much more money? The simple reason is: Different markets have completely different trading unit rules.

What is stock price? What units are used for pricing?

In the stock market, the stock price refers to the trading price of each share, representing how much an investor needs to pay to buy one share, or at what price they can sell.

Stock prices fluctuate in real-time based on supply and demand from buyers and sellers. Different countries’ stock markets use different currencies for pricing. US stocks are priced in USD, Taiwan stocks in NTD, and Hong Kong stocks in HKD. For example, TSMC might be priced at 1080 NTD per share, while Tesla in the US might be 254 USD per share.

What is a share? How much does one share cost?

One share is the smallest trading unit in the stock market. To raise funds, listed companies divide ownership into several parts, each called a share.

The specific value of one share depends on the current market price. For example, in August 2023, Tesla (TSLA) was priced at 254.11 USD per share, meaning buying one share costs 254.11 USD. A few months earlier, in January 2023, Tesla was only 101.81 USD per share — the price doubled.

The same logic applies to Taiwan stocks. If a company like Taiwan Cement (1101.TW) is priced at 32.10 NTD at a certain time, buying one share costs 32.10 NTD.

Note that the face value of a stock (for example, the old Taiwan stock face value of 10 NTD) has nothing to do with the current stock price. The face value is just a historical record; the actual price is determined by the company’s earning capacity and investor perception.

How many shares are in one Taiwan stock sheet? How do trading units differ across markets?

This is the key difference — each country’s stock market has completely different rules for trading units:

• US stocks: The trading unit is 1 share. You can buy 1 share, 2 shares, 100 shares, etc., flexibly.
• Taiwan stocks: The trading unit is 1 sheet. One sheet equals 1000 shares, meaning you cannot buy just a few shares; you must buy at least one sheet (1000 shares).
• Hong Kong stocks: The trading unit is called 1 lot. But HK stocks are a bit special — one lot can be 100, 500, 1000, or 2000 shares, depending on the stock’s price.

Cost comparison

This results in significantly different investment costs:

Tesla in the US: Current price is $420 per share, so buying one share costs $420.

Taiwan stock TSMC: Current price is 1080 NTD per share, so buying one sheet costs 1080 × 1000 = 1,080,000 NTD.

Hong Kong stock Tencent: Current price is 418 HKD per share, and one lot is 100 shares, so buying one lot costs 418 × 100 = 41,800 HKD.

A simple comparison shows that US stocks are the most flexible and cheapest to trade, Taiwan stocks require the most initial capital, and Hong Kong stocks are in between.

Why are they designed this way?

This is all a product of history and market rules. Taiwan continued with the fixed face value system from early days, which locked the minimum purchase unit at 1000 shares. When US stocks rose to prominence, technological advances made small transactions possible, leading to a more flexible 1-share rule. Hong Kong found a balance between the two.

Ultimately, choosing which market to invest in depends on your capital size and risk tolerance.