Stock Liquidity

Stock Liquidity Analysis Skill

Analyzes stock liquidity across multiple dimensions — bid-ask spreads, volume patterns, order book depth, estimated market impact, and turnover ratios — using data from Yahoo Finance via yfinance.

Liquidity matters because it determines the real cost of trading. The quoted price is not what you actually pay — spreads, slippage, and market impact all eat into returns, especially for larger positions or less liquid names.

Important: This is for research and educational purposes only. Not financial advice. yfinance is not affiliated with Yahoo, Inc.

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Step 1: Ensure Dependencies Are Available

Current environment status:

!`python3 -c "import yfinance, pandas, numpy; print(f'yfinance={yfinance.__version__} pandas={pandas.__version__} numpy={numpy.__version__}')" 2>/dev/null || echo "DEPS_MISSING"`

If DEPS_MISSING, install required packages:

import subprocess, sys
subprocess.check_call([sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "install", "-q", "yfinance", "pandas", "numpy"])

If already installed, skip and proceed.

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Step 2: Route to the Correct Sub-Skill

Classify the user's request and jump to the matching section. If the user asks for a general liquidity assessment without specifying a particular metric, run Sub-Skill A (Liquidity Dashboard) which computes all key metrics together.

Defaults

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Sub-Skill A: Liquidity Dashboard

Goal: Produce a comprehensive liquidity snapshot combining all key metrics for one or more tickers.

A1: Fetch data and compute all metrics

import yfinance as yf
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np

def liquidity_dashboard(ticker_symbol, period="3mo"):
    ticker = yf.Ticker(ticker_symbol)
    info = ticker.info
    hist = ticker.history(period=period)

    if hist.empty:
        return None

    # --- Spread metrics (from current quote) ---
    bid = info.get("bid", None)
    ask = info.get("ask", None)
    current_price = info.get("currentPrice") or info.get("regularMarketPrice") or hist["Close"].iloc[-1]

    spread = None
    spread_pct = None
    if bid and ask and bid > 0 and ask > 0:
        spread = round(ask - bid, 4)
        midpoint = (ask + bid) / 2
        spread_pct = round((spread / midpoint) * 100, 4)

    # --- Volume metrics ---
    avg_volume = hist["Volume"].mean()
    median_volume = hist["Volume"].median()
    avg_dollar_volume = (hist["Close"] * hist["Volume"]).mean()
    volume_std = hist["Volume"].std()
    volume_cv = volume_std / avg_volume if avg_volume > 0 else None  # coefficient of variation

    # --- Turnover ratio ---
    shares_outstanding = info.get("sharesOutstanding", None)
    float_shares = info.get("floatShares", None)
    base_shares = float_shares or shares_outstanding
    turnover_ratio = round(avg_volume / base_shares, 6) if base_shares else None

    # --- Amihud illiquidity ratio ---
    # Average of |daily return| / daily dollar volume
    returns = hist["Close"].pct_change().dropna()
    dollar_volume = (hist["Close"] * hist["Volume"]).iloc[1:]  # align with returns
    amihud_values = returns.abs() / dollar_volume
    amihud = amihud_values[amihud_values.replace([np.inf, -np.inf], np.nan).notna()].mean()

    # --- Market impact estimate (square-root model) ---
    # For a hypothetical order of 1% of ADV
    adv = avg_volume
    order_size = adv * 0.01
    daily_volatility = returns.std()
    sigma = daily_volatility
    participation_rate = order_size / adv if adv > 0 else 0
    impact_bps = sigma * np.sqrt(participation_rate) * 10000  # in basis points

    return {
        "ticker": ticker_symbol,
        "current_price": round(current_price, 2),
        "bid": bid,
        "ask": ask,
        "spread": spread,
        "spread_pct": spread_pct,
        "avg_daily_volume": int(avg_volume),
        "median_daily_volume": int(median_volume),
        "avg_dollar_volume": round(avg_dollar_volume, 0),
        "volume_cv": round(volume_cv, 3) if volume_cv else None,
        "shares_outstanding": shares_outstanding,
        "float_shares": float_shares,
        "turnover_ratio": turnover_ratio,
        "amihud_illiquidity": round(amihud * 1e9, 4) if not np.isnan(amihud) else None,
        "daily_volatility": round(daily_volatility * 100, 2),
        "impact_1pct_adv_bps": round(impact_bps, 2),
        "observations": len(hist),
    }

A2: Interpret and present

Present as a summary card. For the Amihud illiquidity ratio, multiply by 1e9 for readability (standard convention).

Liquidity grade (use these rough thresholds for US equities):

When comparing multiple tickers, show a side-by-side table and highlight which is more liquid and why.

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Sub-Skill B: Spread Analysis

Goal: Detailed bid-ask spread analysis including current spread, historical context from options data, and effective spread estimates.

B1: Current spread from quote

import yfinance as yf

def spread_analysis(ticker_symbol):
    ticker = yf.Ticker(ticker_symbol)
    info = ticker.info

    bid = info.get("bid", 0)
    ask = info.get("ask", 0)
    bid_size = info.get("bidSize", None)
    ask_size = info.get("askSize", None)
    current_price = info.get("currentPrice") or info.get("regularMarketPrice", 0)

    result = {"bid": bid, "ask": ask, "bid_size": bid_size, "ask_size": ask_size}

    if bid > 0 and ask > 0:
        midpoint = (bid + ask) / 2
        result["absolute_spread"] = round(ask - bid, 4)
        result["relative_spread_pct"] = round((ask - bid) / midpoint * 100, 4)
        result["relative_spread_bps"] = round((ask - bid) / midpoint * 10000, 2)
    return result

B2: Options spread context

Options data from yfinance includes bid/ask for each strike, which gives a sense of derivatives liquidity. Use the nearest expiration, extract near-the-money calls and puts, and compute spread and spread percentage for each.

See references/liquidity_reference.md § "Options Spread Analysis" for the full code template.

B3: Present results

Show:

• Current quoted spread (absolute, relative %, basis points)
• Bid/ask sizes if available
• Near-the-money options spreads for context
• How the spread compares to typical ranges for this market cap tier

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Sub-Skill C: Volume Analysis

Goal: Analyze trading volume patterns — averages, trends, relative volume, and dollar volume.

C1: Compute volume metrics

import yfinance as yf
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np

def volume_analysis(ticker_symbol, period="3mo"):
    ticker = yf.Ticker(ticker_symbol)
    hist = ticker.history(period=period)

    if hist.empty:
        return None

    vol = hist["Volume"]
    close = hist["Close"]
    dollar_vol = vol * close

    # Relative volume (today vs average)
    rvol = vol.iloc[-1] / vol.mean() if vol.mean() > 0 else None

    # Volume trend (linear regression slope over the period)
    x = np.arange(len(vol))
    slope, _ = np.polyfit(x, vol.values, 1) if len(vol) > 1 else (0, 0)
    trend_pct = (slope * len(vol)) / vol.mean() * 100  # % change over period

    # Volume profile by day of week
    hist_copy = hist.copy()
    hist_copy["DayOfWeek"] = hist_copy.index.dayofweek
    day_names = {0: "Mon", 1: "Tue", 2: "Wed", 3: "Thu", 4: "Fri"}
    vol_by_day = hist_copy.groupby("DayOfWeek")["Volume"].mean()
    vol_by_day.index = vol_by_day.index.map(day_names)

    # High/low volume days
    high_vol_days = hist.nlargest(5, "Volume")[["Close", "Volume"]]
    low_vol_days = hist.nsmallest(5, "Volume")[["Close", "Volume"]]

    return {
        "avg_volume": int(vol.mean()),
        "median_volume": int(vol.median()),
        "avg_dollar_volume": round(dollar_vol.mean(), 0),
        "current_volume": int(vol.iloc[-1]),
        "relative_volume": round(rvol, 2) if rvol else None,
        "volume_trend_pct": round(trend_pct, 1),
        "volume_by_day": vol_by_day.to_dict(),
        "high_vol_days": high_vol_days,
        "low_vol_days": low_vol_days,
        "max_volume": int(vol.max()),
        "min_volume": int(vol.min()),
    }

C2: Present results

Show:

• Average daily volume (shares and dollar) with median for comparison
• Relative volume (RVOL) — today's volume vs. the average. RVOL > 1.5 is elevated; RVOL < 0.5 is unusually quiet
• Volume trend — is trading activity increasing or declining?
• Day-of-week pattern (if meaningful variation exists)
• Top 5 highest-volume days with context (earnings? news?)

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Sub-Skill D: Order Book Depth

Goal: Estimate order book depth using available bid/ask data from the equity quote and options chain.

Yahoo Finance does not provide full Level 2 / order book data. Be upfront about this limitation. What we can do:

1. Equity quote: bid, ask, bid size, ask size (top of book only) 2. Options chain: bid/ask and open interest across strikes give a proxy for derivatives depth 3. Intraday volume distribution: how volume is distributed within the day suggests how deep the continuous market is

D1: Gather available depth data

Collect three data points:

1. Top of book — bid, ask, bidSize, askSize from ticker.info 2. Intraday volume distribution — 5-min bars over the last 5 days, grouped by time-of-day and normalized to percentage of daily volume 3. Options open interest — total call/put OI and volume from the nearest expiration as a derivatives depth proxy

See references/liquidity_reference.md § "Order Book Depth Proxy" for the full code template.

D2: Present results

Show:

• Top of book: current bid/ask with sizes
• Intraday volume shape: where volume concentrates (open/close vs. midday)
• Options depth: total open interest and volume as a proxy for derivatives liquidity
• Honest limitation: "Yahoo Finance provides top-of-book only. For full Level 2 depth, a direct market data feed (e.g., NYSE OpenBook, NASDAQ TotalView) is needed."

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Sub-Skill E: Market Impact

Goal: Estimate how much a given order size would move the price, using the square-root market impact model.

The standard model in practice is: Impact (%) = σ × √(Q / V) where σ is daily volatility, Q is order size in shares, and V is average daily volume. This is a simplified version of the Almgren-Chriss framework used by institutional traders.

E1: Compute market impact estimate

import yfinance as yf
import numpy as np

def market_impact(ticker_symbol, order_shares=None, order_dollars=None, period="3mo"):
    ticker = yf.Ticker(ticker_symbol)
    hist = ticker.history(period=period)
    info = ticker.info

    if hist.empty:
        return None

    current_price = info.get("currentPrice") or hist["Close"].iloc[-1]
    avg_volume = hist["Volume"].mean()
    daily_volatility = hist["Close"].pct_change().dropna().std()

    # Determine order size in shares
    if order_dollars and not order_shares:
        order_shares = order_dollars / current_price
    elif not order_shares:
        # Default: estimate for various sizes
        order_shares = avg_volume * 0.01  # 1% of ADV

    participation_rate = order_shares / avg_volume if avg_volume > 0 else 0
    pct_adv = (order_shares / avg_volume * 100) if avg_volume > 0 else 0

    # Square-root impact model
    impact_pct = daily_volatility * np.sqrt(participation_rate) * 100
    impact_bps = impact_pct * 100
    impact_dollars = impact_pct / 100 * current_price * order_shares

    # Generate impact curve for multiple order sizes
    sizes = [0.001, 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05, 0.10, 0.20, 0.50]  # as fraction of ADV
    curve = []
    for s in sizes:
        q = avg_volume * s
        imp = daily_volatility * np.sqrt(s) * 100
        curve.append({
            "pct_adv": round(s * 100, 1),
            "shares": int(q),
            "dollars": round(q * current_price, 0),
            "impact_bps": round(imp * 100, 1),
            "impact_dollars_per_share": round(imp / 100 * current_price, 4),
        })

    return {
        "ticker": ticker_symbol,
        "current_price": round(current_price, 2),
        "avg_daily_volume": int(avg_volume),
        "daily_volatility_pct": round(daily_volatility * 100, 2),
        "order_shares": int(order_shares),
        "order_dollars": round(order_shares * current_price, 0),
        "pct_of_adv": round(pct_adv, 2),
        "estimated_impact_bps": round(impact_bps, 1),
        "estimated_impact_pct": round(impact_pct, 4),
        "estimated_impact_total_dollars": round(impact_dollars, 2),
        "impact_curve": curve,
    }

E2: Present results

Show:

• The estimated impact for the user's specific order size
• An impact curve table showing how cost scales with order size
• Context: "This uses the square-root market impact model, a standard institutional estimate. Actual impact depends on execution strategy (VWAP, TWAP, etc.), time of day, and current market conditions."
• If impact > 50 bps, flag that the order is large relative to liquidity and suggest the user consider algorithmic execution or splitting the order across days

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Sub-Skill F: Turnover Ratio

Goal: Measure how actively a stock trades relative to its shares outstanding and free float.

F1: Compute turnover metrics

import yfinance as yf
import pandas as pd
import numpy as np

def turnover_analysis(ticker_symbol, period="3mo"):
    ticker = yf.Ticker(ticker_symbol)
    hist = ticker.history(period=period)
    info = ticker.info

    if hist.empty:
        return None

    avg_volume = hist["Volume"].mean()
    shares_outstanding = info.get("sharesOutstanding")
    float_shares = info.get("floatShares")

    result = {
        "avg_daily_volume": int(avg_volume),
        "shares_outstanding": shares_outstanding,
        "float_shares": float_shares,
    }

    if shares_outstanding:
        daily_turnover = avg_volume / shares_outstanding
        result["daily_turnover_ratio"] = round(daily_turnover, 6)
        result["annualized_turnover"] = round(daily_turnover * 252, 2)
        result["days_to_trade_float"] = round(
            (float_shares or shares_outstanding) / avg_volume, 1
        ) if avg_volume > 0 else None

    if float_shares:
        float_turnover = avg_volume / float_shares
        result["float_turnover_daily"] = round(float_turnover, 6)
        result["float_turnover_annualized"] = round(float_turnover * 252, 2)

    # Turnover trend
    vol = hist["Volume"]
    base = float_shares or shares_outstanding
    if base:
        hist_copy = hist.copy()
        hist_copy["turnover"] = hist_copy["Volume"] / base
        recent_turnover = hist_copy["turnover"].tail(20).mean()
        older_turnover = hist_copy["turnover"].head(20).mean()
        if older_turnover > 0:
            result["turnover_trend_pct"] = round(
                (recent_turnover - older_turnover) / older_turnover * 100, 1
            )

    return result

F2: Present results

Show:

• Daily and annualized turnover ratios (vs. outstanding and float)
• "Days to trade the float" — how many days at average volume to turn over the entire free float
• Turnover trend — is the stock becoming more or less actively traded?
• Context:

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Step 3: Respond to the User

After running the appropriate sub-skill:

Always include

• The lookback period used for historical metrics
• The data timestamp — spreads and quotes are snapshots, not real-time
• Any tickers that returned empty data (invalid symbol, delisted, etc.)

Always caveat

• Yahoo Finance quote data has a 15-minute delay for most exchanges — spreads shown may not reflect the current live market
• Full order book (Level 2) data is not available through Yahoo Finance
• Market impact estimates are models, not guarantees — actual execution costs depend on strategy, timing, and market conditions
• Liquidity can change rapidly — a stock that's liquid today may not be tomorrow (especially around events, halts, or during extended hours)

Practical guidance (mention when relevant)

• Position sizing: If estimated impact exceeds 25 bps, the position may be too large for the stock's liquidity
• Small/micro-cap warning: Stocks with < $1M daily dollar volume require careful execution
• Spread costs compound: A 0.10% spread on a round-trip (buy + sell) costs 0.20% — this adds up for active strategies
• Illiquidity premium: Less liquid stocks historically earn higher returns as compensation — but the transaction costs can eat this premium

Important: Never recommend specific trades. Present liquidity data and let the user make their own decisions.

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Reference Files

• references/liquidity_reference.md — Detailed formulas, extended code templates, metric interpretation guides, and academic references for all liquidity measures

Read the reference file when you need exact formulas, edge case handling, or deeper background on liquidity metrics.

Stock Liquidity Analysis

Analyze stock liquidity across multiple dimensions using Yahoo Finance data — bid-ask spreads, volume profiles, order book depth estimates, market impact modeling, and turnover ratios.

Triggers

• "how liquid is AAPL"
• "bid-ask spread for TSLA"
• "volume analysis for MSFT"
• "order book depth"
• "how much would 50k shares move the price"
• "market impact of a $1M order"
• "turnover ratio for GME"
• "slippage estimate"
• "compare liquidity between stocks"
• "is this stock liquid enough to trade"
• "Amihud illiquidity ratio"
• "average daily dollar volume"

Platform

All platforms (CLI + Claude.ai with code execution enabled)

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• yfinance, pandas, numpy (auto-installed if missing)

Sub-Skills

Reference Files

• references/liquidity_reference.md — Detailed formulas, code templates, metric interpretation guides, edge cases, and yfinance field reference

Liquidity Metrics Reference

Complete reference for all liquidity metrics, formulas, code templates, and interpretation guidelines.

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Table of Contents

1. Bid-Ask Spread Metrics 2. Volume Metrics 3. Amihud Illiquidity Ratio 4. Square-Root Market Impact Model 5. Turnover Ratio 6. Composite Liquidity Score 7. yfinance Fields Reference 8. Edge Cases and Gotchas

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Bid-Ask Spread Metrics

Quoted Spread

The difference between the best ask and best bid price.

Absolute Spread = Ask - Bid
Relative Spread (%) = (Ask - Bid) / Midpoint × 100
Spread (bps) = (Ask - Bid) / Midpoint × 10,000
Midpoint = (Ask + Bid) / 2

Effective Spread (estimated)

The effective spread captures the actual transaction cost, accounting for trades that execute inside the quoted spread. Without tick-level data, estimate as:

Effective Spread ≈ 2 × |Trade Price - Midpoint|

Since yfinance doesn't provide tick data, use the quoted spread as an upper bound. The effective spread is typically 60–80% of the quoted spread for liquid stocks.

Spread as a Function of Price Level

Low-priced stocks often have wider percentage spreads due to the minimum tick size ($0.01). A $5 stock with a $0.01 spread has a 0.20% spread, while a $500 stock with a $0.01 spread has a 0.002% spread. Always report relative spread, not just absolute.

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Volume Metrics

Average Daily Volume (ADV)

adv = hist["Volume"].mean()

Use median for a more robust measure when volume has large spikes (earnings, index rebalancing).

Average Daily Dollar Volume (ADDV)

addv = (hist["Close"] * hist["Volume"]).mean()

Dollar volume is more meaningful than share volume for cross-stock comparisons because it normalizes for price differences.

Relative Volume (RVOL)

rvol = current_volume / avg_volume

Volume Coefficient of Variation

volume_cv = hist["Volume"].std() / hist["Volume"].mean()

High CV (> 1.0) means volume is "spiky" — the stock alternates between very quiet and very active days. This matters for execution: you can't rely on the average volume being available every day.

Intraday Volume Distribution

Volume follows a U-shape pattern in US equities — highest at open and close, lowest midday. Use 5-minute bars to visualize:

intraday = ticker.history(period="5d", interval="5m")
intraday["time"] = intraday.index.time
vol_by_time = intraday.groupby("time")["Volume"].mean()

Typical distribution for US equities:

• First 30 min (9:30–10:00): ~15–20% of daily volume
• Midday (11:00–14:00): ~25–30% of daily volume
• Last 30 min (15:30–16:00): ~15–20% of daily volume

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Amihud Illiquidity Ratio

Formula

Amihud (2002) illiquidity ratio measures the daily price response per dollar of trading volume:

ILLIQ = (1/D) × Σ |rₜ| / DVOLₜ

Where:

• D = number of trading days in the period
• rₜ = daily return on day t
• DVOLₜ = daily dollar volume on day t (price × volume)

Code

returns = hist["Close"].pct_change().dropna()
dollar_volume = (hist["Close"] * hist["Volume"]).iloc[1:]  # align with returns

amihud_daily = returns.abs() / dollar_volume
# Remove inf values (zero-volume days)
amihud_daily = amihud_daily.replace([np.inf, -np.inf], np.nan).dropna()
amihud = amihud_daily.mean()

# Convention: multiply by 10^9 for readability
amihud_scaled = amihud * 1e9

Interpretation

Higher values = less liquid. The ratio captures how much "price bang" you get per dollar of volume.

Rolling Amihud

Track how liquidity changes over time:

window = 20  # trading days
rolling_amihud = amihud_daily.rolling(window).mean() * 1e9

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Square-Root Market Impact Model

Theory

The square-root law of market impact is one of the most robust empirical findings in market microstructure. Price impact scales with the square root of order size:

Impact (%) = σ × √(Q / V)

Where:

• σ = daily return volatility (standard deviation)
• Q = order size in shares
• V = average daily volume in shares

This means doubling the order size only increases impact by ~41% (√2 ≈ 1.41), not 100%. This concavity arises because large orders are typically split across time.

Extended Model with Participation Rate

For orders executed over multiple periods:

Impact (%) = σ × √(Q / (V × T))

Where T is the number of days over which the order is executed.

Total Execution Cost

Total Cost = Spread Cost + Market Impact
Spread Cost = 0.5 × Bid-Ask Spread (one way)
Total Round-Trip = 2 × (Spread Cost + Impact)

Code for Impact Curve

def impact_curve(ticker_symbol, period="3mo"):
    ticker = yf.Ticker(ticker_symbol)
    hist = ticker.history(period=period)
    info = ticker.info
    
    price = info.get("currentPrice") or hist["Close"].iloc[-1]
    adv = hist["Volume"].mean()
    sigma = hist["Close"].pct_change().dropna().std()
    
    sizes_pct_adv = [0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50]
    
    results = []
    for pct in sizes_pct_adv:
        frac = pct / 100
        shares = int(adv * frac)
        impact_pct = sigma * np.sqrt(frac) * 100
        impact_per_share = impact_pct / 100 * price
        total_cost = impact_per_share * shares
        
        results.append({
            "pct_adv": pct,
            "shares": shares,
            "notional": round(shares * price),
            "impact_bps": round(impact_pct * 100, 1),
            "cost_per_share": round(impact_per_share, 4),
            "total_cost": round(total_cost, 2),
        })
    
    return results

---

Turnover Ratio

Formulas

Daily Turnover = Daily Volume / Shares Outstanding
Float Turnover = Daily Volume / Free Float Shares
Annualized Turnover = Daily Turnover × 252
Days to Trade Float = Float Shares / Average Daily Volume

yfinance Fields

info = ticker.info
shares_outstanding = info.get("sharesOutstanding")
float_shares = info.get("floatShares")

Float shares excludes restricted stock, insider holdings, and other locked-up shares. Float turnover is generally more informative than total turnover because it measures trading relative to the actually tradable supply.

Interpretation

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Composite Liquidity Score

For a quick single-number summary, combine normalized metrics:

def liquidity_score(spread_pct, avg_dollar_volume, amihud_scaled, turnover_annual):
    """Returns 0-100 score. Higher = more liquid."""
    import numpy as np
    
    # Spread score (lower spread = higher score)
    spread_score = max(0, min(100, 100 - spread_pct * 200))
    
    # Dollar volume score (log scale)
    dv_log = np.log10(max(avg_dollar_volume, 1))
    dv_score = max(0, min(100, (dv_log - 4) / 6 * 100))  # $10K=0, $10B=100
    
    # Amihud score (lower = better)
    ami_score = max(0, min(100, 100 - np.log10(max(amihud_scaled, 0.001)) * 25))
    
    # Turnover score
    turn_score = max(0, min(100, turnover_annual / 5))  # 500% annual = 100
    
    # Weighted composite
    composite = (
        spread_score * 0.30 +
        dv_score * 0.35 +
        ami_score * 0.20 +
        turn_score * 0.15
    )
    return round(composite, 1)

This is a heuristic, not a formal measure. It's useful for quick comparisons but should not replace examining individual metrics.

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yfinance Fields Reference

From ticker.info

From ticker.history()

From ticker.option_chain(expiration)

---

Options Spread Analysis

Analyze near-the-money options spreads from the nearest expiration to gauge derivatives liquidity:

def options_spread_analysis(ticker_symbol):
    ticker = yf.Ticker(ticker_symbol)
    expirations = ticker.options
    if not expirations:
        return None

    # Use nearest expiration
    chain = ticker.option_chain(expirations[0])
    for label, df in [("Calls", chain.calls), ("Puts", chain.puts)]:
        atm = pd.concat([df[df["inTheMoney"]].tail(3), df[~df["inTheMoney"]].head(3)])
        atm["spread"] = atm["ask"] - atm["bid"]
        atm["spread_pct"] = (atm["spread"] / ((atm["ask"] + atm["bid"]) / 2) * 100).round(2)
    return chain

---

Order Book Depth Proxy

Yahoo Finance does not provide full Level 2 data. Use this function to gather available depth signals:

def order_book_proxy(ticker_symbol):
    ticker = yf.Ticker(ticker_symbol)
    info = ticker.info

    # Top of book
    top_of_book = {
        "bid": info.get("bid"),
        "ask": info.get("ask"),
        "bid_size": info.get("bidSize"),
        "ask_size": info.get("askSize"),
    }

    # Intraday volume distribution (5-min bars, last 5 days)
    intraday = ticker.history(period="5d", interval="5m")
    if not intraday.empty:
        intraday_copy = intraday.copy()
        intraday_copy["time"] = intraday_copy.index.time
        vol_by_time = intraday_copy.groupby("time")["Volume"].mean()
        # Normalize to percentage of daily volume
        total = vol_by_time.sum()
        vol_pct = (vol_by_time / total * 100).round(2) if total > 0 else vol_by_time

    # Options open interest as depth proxy
    expirations = ticker.options
    if expirations:
        chain = ticker.option_chain(expirations[0])
        total_call_oi = chain.calls["openInterest"].sum()
        total_put_oi = chain.puts["openInterest"].sum()
        total_call_volume = chain.calls["volume"].sum()
        total_put_volume = chain.puts["volume"].sum()

    return top_of_book, vol_pct if not intraday.empty else None

---

Edge Cases and Gotchas

Zero-Volume Days

Some thinly traded stocks have days with zero volume. Filter these before computing Amihud (division by zero) and volume averages:

# Remove zero-volume days for Amihud
mask = hist["Volume"] > 0
hist_filtered = hist[mask]

Pre/Post Market Data

yfinance prepost=True includes extended hours data, which has wider spreads and lower volume. For liquidity analysis, use regular hours only (the default).

Quote Staleness

Yahoo Finance quotes can be delayed 15+ minutes. During market hours, bid/ask may not reflect the current state. Note this in output.

ADRs and Foreign Stocks

American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) may show different liquidity than the underlying foreign-listed stock. The ADR spread can be wider than the home-market spread. When analyzing ADR liquidity, note this distinction.

ETFs vs. Stocks

ETF liquidity is more complex — the ETF may appear illiquid (low volume, wide spread) but the underlying basket is very liquid, meaning authorized participants can create/redeem shares efficiently. The "true" liquidity of an ETF is the liquidity of its underlying holdings. Note this when the user asks about ETF liquidity.

Penny Stocks (< $1)

Minimum tick size ($0.01) creates a floor on absolute spreads. A $0.50 stock can't have less than a 2% spread (at minimum tick). Relative spread metrics are especially important for low-priced securities.

Weekend/Holiday Gaps

Volume averages should use trading days only (yfinance handles this by default). But be careful when computing "days to trade float" — these are trading days, not calendar days.