stock market

Stock market, or equity market, is the market in which shares of publicly held companies are issued and traded either through exchanges or over-the-counter markets.

Trade in stock markets means the transfer for money of a stock or security from a seller to a buyer. This requires these two parties to agree on a price. Equities (stocks or shares) confer an ownership interest in a particular company.

Participants in the stock market range from small individual stock investors to larger traders investors, who can be based anywhere in the world, and may include banks, insurance companies or pension funds, and hedge funds. Their buy or sell orders may be executed on their behalf by a stock exchange trader.

The stock market lets investors participate in the financial achievements of the companies whose shares they hold. If firms are profitable, stock market investors make money through the dividends the companies pay out and by selling appreciated stocks at a profit called a capital gain. The downside is that investors can lose money if the companies whose stocks they hold lose money, the stocks' prices goes down and the investor sells the stocks at a loss.