What’s a stock exchange? We hear the term thrown around loosely when news newshounds report that ‘the stock market was down today’ as though there was just one equity market. Fact is, there are several stock exchanges in north american and several in major centers thru Europe and Asia, including Frankfurt, London, Japan, and the Malaysian Stock Exchange.
The major indices in northAmerica include the Toronto Stock Exchange, CDNX, the Montreal Stock Exchange ( which recently revealed it was going to merge with the TSX ), NDX, AMEX and the grandaddy of them all : the Dow Jones. Used properly, the term stock exchange precisely describes what goes on within each of these locations.
For the bulk of north american stock exchanges, theyare open between 9:30am - 4pm, monday to Fri..
So what occurs at these exchanges? Like any market, there are bidders and sellers making an attempt to barter over the cost of an item, in this situation, shares in a public traded company. If the bidders are willing to meet the sellers price, the share price moves higher, while the share price moves lower if the vendor agrees to the buyers price. Depending on the economy, company basics and current reports, there could be more traders interested in purchasing or selling shares. Generally, if there’s a downtrend in the economy, the markets experience a bear market, which means that even excellent news is mostly discounted, and sellers customarily win the day. In a bull market, bad news is discounted, and excellent news is often exaggerated. Think about the dot com bubble back in the late 1990’s.
Financier psychology also plays a role in figuring out the share price. Greed and fear help to exaggerate share costs. While demand and supply for shares performs a part, there is nothing like old fashion fear of missing the chance of a whole life to pump up the share price, or the fear of losing whatever capital is left after there was bad news to bump the share price even lower.
These fluctuations create opportunities for smart investors.
purchasing and selling shares arenot the only way to earn income in the exchange. There are other sorts of markets including the foreign exchange market ( currency exchange ), futures market and the Options Market.
The futures market deals with contracts to buy and sell goods at stipulated costs and times. A farmer as an example, may want to trade futures based mostly on the future price of corn. This enables him to lock in costs for future delivery. Naturally, this could and generally does change on abooked regular[/spin] basis, depending on current events and weather patterns. Most future traders however trade the contract, not the physical goods.
currency exchange is by a large margin the larges investment market in the world today. In simple language forex trading permits an investor to buy currency against the other, providing a potential return for the trader. If you suspect the US dollar will gain against the Eurodollar, you can buy US dollars and sell if the US dollar in reality gains. Its one of the riskier methods of investing. Although it can provide amazing returns, it can leave you in the poorhouse just as fast.
The Options market gives traders the right, but not the duty to trade a stock for a certain price, before an agreed date. Most savvy traders will go long on a stock, but get a put option ( fundamentally allowing the trader the right to go short on the same stock ). This supplies the necessary insurance incase the stock declines.
A smart financier knows the hazards before they invest in the market. Whether penny stocks, large caps or futures, they weigh the danger before making their move.
There is lots of cash to be made in the exchange if you know what to go looking for. Its all about knowing the stock market basics first.