Stock market

The stock market is a network of exchanges and other venues where shares of publicly traded companies are bought and sold. It connects investors with companies and provides mechanisms for trading and pricing shares.

Stock exchange: A regulated marketplace where securities are listed and traded under established rules. Exchanges are the central venues within the broader stock market.
Share (finance): A unit of ownership in a company, carrying rights defined by its share class and governing documents. Shares are the securities exchanged in the stock market.
Stock market index: A calculated measure that tracks the performance of a selected group of stocks. Indexes summarize movements across portions of the stock market.
Bond market: A market where investors buy and sell debt securities issued by governments and organizations. Bonds represent lending, unlike the ownership claims traded in stocks.
Order book: A live record of buy and sell orders for a particular security, organized by price. Matching orders in order books helps determine which trades occur and at what prices.
Public company: A company whose securities are available to public investors, often through a stock exchange or other trading venue. Its shares can circulate among investors in public markets.
Exchange-traded fund: An investment fund whose shares trade on an exchange, often holding a basket of assets. ETFs let investors trade diversified portfolios through stock-market venues.
Foreign exchange market: A global market for exchanging one national currency for another. Currency trading differs from trading company ownership and often operates continuously across time zones.
Market order: An instruction to buy or sell a security immediately at the best available prices. It prioritizes execution over control of the exact trading price.
Brokerage firm: A firm that executes securities transactions for clients and may provide related financial services. Brokerage firms connect many investors to trading venues.

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