How the Stock Market Works

You may have heard that investing in stocks can be a great way to create wealth over time, and it's certainly true. But do you really know how the stock market works? Or what makes a stock market different from a stock exchange or stock index? If you're curious, here's a rundown of the basics of stock markets, stock exchanges, and stock indexes.

How do stock markets work?

Stocks, also known as equities or equity securities, represent ownership interests in company's who choose to have their shares available to public investors.

Stock markets facilitate the sale and purchase of these stocks between individual investors, institutional investors, and company's. There are two components of stock markets -- the primary market and the secondary market.

The primary market. Stocks first become publicly traded through a process known as an initial public offering, or IPO. This involves a company selling shares, or pieces of itself, to investors in order to raise capital. This initial sale comprises the primary market.
The secondary market. After the IPO takes place, virtually all subsequent stock trades take place between investors -- that is, the company is not involved. Stock exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or Nasdaq, facilitate the buying and selling of stocks between investors.

The vast majority of stock trades take place on secondary markets between investors. That means that, for example, if you want to buy shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and hit the "buy" button through your broker's website, you are buying shares that another investor has decided to sell -- not from Microsoft itself.Types of Stocks

Understanding different categories of stocks is key to building a strong portfolio.Stock Market Sectors

Learn about the 11 different market sectors stocks fall into.Stock Exchanges

Exchanges are where you buy and sell shares of stock.Stock Market Indexes

Indexes illustrate stock prices for a variety of company's across industries.

How are prices determined on a stock market?

Stock prices on exchanges are governed by supply and demand -- plain and simple. At any given time, there's a maximum price someone else is willing to pay for a certain stock and a minimum price someone else is willing to sell shares of the stock for. Think of stock prices as an auction, with some investors bidding for the stocks that other investors are willing to sell.

If there is a lot of demand for a stock, investors will buy shares quicker than sellers want to get rid of them, and the price will move higher. On the other hand, if more investors are selling a stock than buying, the market price will drop.

Taking it a step further, it's important to consider how it's possible to always buy or sell a stock you own. And that's where market makers come in.

Market makers ensure there are always buyers and sellers

In order to ensure that there's always a liquid marketplace for stocks on an exchange, individuals known as market makers act as intermediaries between buyers and sellers. Market makers buy and hold shares and continually list buy and sell quotations for shares. The highest offer to buy shares listed from a market maker at any given time is known as the bid and the lowest offered selling price is known as the ask. The difference between the two is called the spread.

The main reason for using the market maker system as opposed to simply letting investors buy and sell shares directly to one another is to ensure that there is always a buyer to match with every seller, and vice versa. If you want to sell a stock, you don't need to wait until a buyer wants your exact number of shares -- a market maker will buy them right away.

What happens when you buy a stock?

Investors must carry out the transactions of buying or selling stocks through a broker, which is simply an entity that is licensed to trade stocks on an exchange. A broker may be an actual person who you tell what to buy and sell, or more commonly, this can be an online broker that processes the entire transaction electronically.

When you buy a stock, here's the simplified version of how it works:

You tell your broker what stock you want to buy and how many shares you want.
Your broker relays your order to the exchange and a market maker sells you shares at the current market price.
The shares are then delivered to your account.

How does a stock index track the stock market?

You've probably heard statements such as "the market is up" or that a stock "beat the market." Often, when discussing the stock market, people generalize "the market" to a stock index. Stock indexes, such as the S&P 500 or Dow Jones Industrial Average, are a representation of the performance of a large group of stocks (but often not an entire stock exchange) and are often used as a benchmark to compare the performance of individual stocks or an entire portfolio. For example, the S&P 500 index tracks the performance of 500 of the largest publicly traded company's in the United States.

Indexes are a convenient way to discuss an approximation of what is happening in the market, but they do not fully represent the entire stock market.

Did you know that...

The jewelry sector frequently witnesses increased sales leading up to popular gift-giving occasions like valentine's day and mother's day?
Knowing when to do nothing is as vital in investing as knowing when to act?
Real estate crowdfunding platforms allow individual investors to invest in property assets without needing to buy an entire property?
Compounding returns emphasize the principle that it's not just about timing the market but time in the market?
Cold beverage and ice cream companies often witness sales spikes during the hot summer months, while hot beverage companies might see the inverse during colder seasons?

Quotes of the Day:

"The investor who is always looking for the next big thing inevitably misses the current big thing." - Irving Kahn
"The stock market is a place where people who don't know what they're doing come to buy and sell stocks from people who don't know what they're doing." - William Miller
"The most important thing in investing is to have a margin of safety." - Donald Yacktman
"The stock market is a no-called-strike game. You don't have to swing at everything - you can wait for your pitch." - Edward Owens
"Investing should be more like watching paint dry or watching grass grow. If you want excitement, take $800 and go to Las Vegas." - John Templeton

More Stock Market Resources: