Stock Market Basics

There are many advantages to investing in stocks. But in order to make the most of them you need to understand a few essentials about the stock market and how stocks work.

How a Stock Market Works

The stock market might seem mysterious, but the inner workings of the market are no big secret. Have you ever attended an auction? When you buy an object at auction, you aren't buying from the auctioneer. It's the auctioneer's job to match buyers with sellers, and to get the best price possible for the seller. Since there's no fixed price for any auction item, the selling price is set by the amount that a buyer is willing to pay. The stock market works in similar fashion. It's an auction-based market, and a stock broker is an intermediary who serves to match buyers and sellers of stocks.

How a Stock's Price is Set -- and Why it Changes

The price of a stock trade depends upon how little the seller will accept and how much the buyer is willing to pay. So what are all those prices you see in the stock tables in the newspaper or on an Internet quote server? The prices you see are the prices of the last trades of the prior day or the prices of the most recent trades. You can also find the best price that buyers will pay for a share at the current time, as well as the best price that sellers will accept. If you're buying, the price you pay for shares may be worse or it might be better than the most recent quoted price -- by a little or a lot.

A stock's price is constantly changing--rising and falling by a few pennies (or even a few dollars). There are many factors that can cause a stock's price to change, and not all of them are rational. Investors often buy or sell a stock out of fear or some other emotion, and not because it's the "logical" thing to do. In addition, investors often exhibit a herd-like mentality, basing their own buy or sell decisions on what everyone else is doing. Sometimes, this overreaction can create opportunities for investors who are willing to run against the pack, buying a stock when it has been temporarily depressed or selling when a stock's price has been elevated for no apparent reason. ...