The stock market as a whole is an exchange mechanism that allows investors to purchase and sell shares in publicly traded corporations. Though you can visit the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and NASDAQ offices, they are only one of a larger marketplace. Trades are usually conducted electronically between players who are geographically dispersed. The mechanism is a great way for firms to raise funds from investors. Furthermore, experts regularly monitor its trading prices for signs of economic health or weakness.

The price of a stock fluctuates depending on whether new investors want to purchase or old investors want to sell. Investors determine whether to purchase or sell depending on the company’s performance, economic conditions, the current share price, and other variables. Not every investor makes judgments using the same criteria, and what appears illogical to one investor may appear completely fine to another. This dynamic maintains shares in circulation, making future prices impossible to anticipate.

People buy stock for a variety of reasons. Some people cling onto their shares in the hope of earning money via dividends. Others may believe that a stock will rise, so they purchase it, hoping to buy low and sell high. Others may be interested in having a say in how specific companies are run. This is because the amount of shares you possess determines your ability to vote at shareholder meetings.

The terms “stock market” and “stock exchange” are commonly used interchangeably, however they are not synonymous. Traders in the stock market purchase and sell shares on one or more stock exchanges, which are only a subset of the entire stock market. The major stock exchanges in the United States are the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Nasdaq.

How Does the Stock Market Work?

The stock market is a massive, complicated network of trading operations in which company shares are bought and sold, governed by regulations that prohibit fraud and other unfair trading practices. It is critical to modern economies because it allows money to flow between investors and businesses.

Looking at the components of something might sometimes be the greatest approach to understand how it works. In that light, let’s explore the major aspects of the stock market, from the corporations selling shares to stocks, exchanges, and indexes that provide a snapshot of the stock market’s health:

Public Companies

Not all companies can offer stock to the public. Only public companies that have offered their shares for the first time in an initial public offering (IPO) can have their stock bought and sold on exchanges like the NYSE or Nasdaq. From the time a company starts planning its IPO through all the time its shares are sold to the public, it must meet stringent regulations and financial disclosure laws.

The primary market could involve raising money and giving parts of a business to friends, family, and others in direct trades, making it the oldest way of dividing shares in a company. Since the primary market is where a company sells its securities directly, today it includes IPOs, follow-on public offerings, private placements, debt offerings, and other times when a company sells part of itself to raise funds.

From then on, stocks are traded in the secondary market on exchanges or “over the counter.” More than 58,000 companies worldwide are publicly traded today.

Buying and Selling Shares

When you buy a stock or a share, you’re getting a piece of that company. How much of the company you own depends on the number of shares the company has issued and the number of shares you own. If it’s a small, private company, a single share could represent a large part of the company. Major public companies often have millions, even billions, of shares. For example, Apple Inc. (AAPL) has billions of shares in circulation, so a single share is just a tiny fraction of the company.

Owning shares gives you the right to part of the company’s profits, often paid as dividends, and sometimes the right to vote on company matters.

Stock Exchange

Once a company goes public, its stocks can be traded freely on the stock market. This means that investors can buy and sell shares among themselves. This is the secondary market for stocks, and most trading is done through stock exchanges. This part of the larger stock market dates to at least 1602 in Amsterdam, evolving since into some of the world’s most complex institutions.

Stock exchanges are organized and regulated “places” (much trading today is virtual) where stocks and other types of securities are bought and sold. They play a crucial role in the financial system by providing a platform for companies to raise money by selling their stocks and bonds to the public.

The NYSE and Nasdaq are prime examples, serving as central locations for the buying and selling of stocks. There are major exchanges worldwide, such as the London Stock Exchange, the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Each has its own internal rules, and investors follow different national and local laws. These are meant to ensure fair trading practices and to keep investors confident in dealing there. They also provide transparency in the trading process, giving real-time information on securities prices, which is why it’s so easy to find up-to-date stock prices on just about any financial news site.

Stock exchanges wouldn’t live up to their name, though, if they didn’t offer liquidity, the ability to buy or sell stocks relatively easily. This means that during trading hours, you can buy a stock quickly or just as rapidly sell it to raise cash.

Many stock exchanges also cross-list company shares, offering securities primarily listed on other exchanges. This way, companies can reach more investors when raising capital, and those trading with certain exchanges have far more options.

Over-the-Counter Market

Stocks and other securities are also traded “over the counter” (OTC). These OTC markets are where you buy or sell stocks directly with another investor, typically without the same level of regulation or public scrutiny. OTC trading involves a network of brokers and dealers who negotiate directly over computer networks and by phone.

This type of trading is commonly used for smaller, less liquid companies that may not meet the stringent listing requirements of the stock exchanges. This can make it more challenging for investors to get reliable information about the companies they are investing in.

Other Assets Sold on the Stock Market

As part of understanding stock market basics, it’s important to know that, in addition to common stocks, many other assets are traded through stock exchanges and OTC. These count, too, as part of the “stock market”:

• American depositary receipts: Represent shares in foreign companies and are traded on U.S. stock exchanges. They let U.S. investors invest in foreign companies without dealing with foreign stock exchanges or converting over their currency.
• Derivatives: This is a broad category that includes options and futures, whose value is derived from the value of an underlying asset, such as stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, interest rates, or market indexes. So, in derivatives trading, you’re not directly buying or selling the actual asset (like the stock). Instead, you’re trading something whose value is influenced by the changes in the price of an underlying asset.
• Funds: These include mutual funds, which pool money from many investors for a basket of stocks, bonds, and other securities, and exchange-traded funds, which trade on stock exchanges like individual stocks and “track” or try to mirror how a sector, index, or theme of stocks is doing.
• Preferred stocks: These stocks generally provide a set dividend and, as the name suggests, have priority over common stock in getting a share of the profits or what’s left over if the company goes bankrupt.
• Real estate investment trusts (REITs): These are worth mentioning to get an idea of the breadth of what counts as the stock market. REITs are companies that own, manage, or finance real estate. Investors can buy shares in them, and they legally must provide 90% of their profits as dividends each year.

More loosely, while independent markets, people often talk about these as part of the “stock market”:

• Bonds: These represent debt, and governments and corporations issue them to raise capital. Investors who buy bonds effectively lend money to the issuer in exchange for interest payments and the return of the bond’s face value at maturity.
• Commodities: There are 50 major commodities markets worldwide where you buy raw materials like oil, steel, wheat, and coal directly or buy futures contracts based on where their prices might go.

Investors and Traders

Those in the stock market include institutional investors, such as pension funds, mutual funds, insurance companies, and hedge funds, that manage large amounts of money and often have a significant influence over the market since they are trading in large volumes. Retail investors buy and sell securities for their personal accounts—not for an organization. They can range from beginners to experienced traders, and today, most use online platforms.

Read Also: How to Invest in Real Estate for Wealth Creation

Another key group is accredited investors, high-net-worth individuals with the money and investing experience, so the SEC allows them access to more complex investments, like venture capital and private equity.

Generally speaking, investors approach the market from a long-term perspective. They put money in stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and other securities, expecting their value to grow over time; these are not the quick trades you see in movies to get in and out fast. These investors are often more concerned with the fundamental strength of the companies or assets they invest in, such as their financial performance, market position, and potential for growth. They decide on investments after research and analysis or after getting recommendations from financial advisors while trying to build wealth steadily through a portfolio that increases in value over time.

Traders, for their part, take a more short-term approach to the stock market. They aim to capitalize on the market’s volatility, trading stocks, options, futures, and other financial instruments within shorter time frames—from seconds and minutes to days and months. Traders often rely on technical analysis, which involves studying market trends, charts, and other statistical measures to predict future price movements. While trading can offer the potential for quick profits, it also comes with higher risks than long-term investing. Quickly buying and selling securities requires a sharp understanding of the market and a more active, hands-on strategy for trading.

Role of Brokers

Brokers in the stock market play the same role as in insurance and elsewhere, acting as a go-between for investors and the securities markets. They are licensed organizations that buy and sell stocks and other securities for individual and institutional clients. Brokerage firms can be small boutique shops or multinationals offering investment advice, research, and wealth management services while executing trades for customers.

Full-service brokers provide detailed financial advice, portfolio management, and personalized services, making them better for investors who prefer a thorough approach to managing their investments. Further down in cost, discount brokers provide a more hands-off experience and are typically preferred by investors who make their own trading decisions.

Online brokerage firms have become increasingly popular with user-friendly platforms that allow investors to trade securities electronically at lower costs and more convenience. These platforms often have educational resources, analytical tools, and real-time market data. There has also been a rise in robo-advisors, automated financial planning services offered at a very low price.

Whatever type of broker, they are all regulated by the SEC and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in the U.S.

Regulators

A significant aspect of the stock market—dictating what’s traded and how—is the regulations and regulators involved. In the U.S., the latter is the SEC, an independent federal agency set up in 1934 on the heels of the 1929 market crash and the travails of the Great Depression. The mission of the SEC is “protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation.”5

The SEC enforces laws against market manipulation, insider trading, and other forms of fraud while verifying that public companies reveal any significant financial information investors should know when trusting a firm with their money by buying its stock. The SEC also oversees stock exchanges, broker-dealers, investment advisors, mutual funds, and public utility holding companies.

In addition, the exchanges have their own requirements, such as filing timely (usually quarterly) updates to company financial reports and instant reporting of relevant corporate developments to ensure that everyone looking to trade has the same information.

FINRA oversees brokerage firms and their registered securities representatives and is more focused than the SEC on protecting retail investors. Similar agencies exist worldwide, which is crucial given how the stock market is global and a calamity in one corner of the world soon reaches the other—it’s not just something that happens from a few buildings on Wall Street.

While many countries’ regulations differ significantly—they answer to diverse populations and cultural expectations—general rules are enforced to ensure fair practices, protect investors, and promote confidence in the broader stock market.

Bottom Line

The stock market is where shares of companies and other financial instruments are bought and sold. It’s a network of all-stock trading where investors and traders buy and sell stocks. These trades determine stock prices, reflecting the company’s perceived value and market conditions. The stock market is also where companies raise capital and from which investors can grow their wealth. It thus plays a vital role in the global economy. Even if you don’t trade on the stock market directly, it influences the products you buy, the type of jobs available, and the retirement you might plan.