Thursday, June 25, 2009 7:54 PM

Stock Market

A stock market is a public market for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.

The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion US at the beginning of October 2008.

[1] The total world derivatives market has been estimated at about $791 trillion face or nominal value,

[2] 11 times the size of the entire world economy.

[3] The value of the derivatives market, because it is stated in terms of notional values, cannot be directly compared to a stock or a fixed income security, which traditionally refers to an actual value. Moreover, the vast majority of derivatives 'cancel' each other out (i.e., a derivative 'bet' on an event occurring is offset by a comparable derivative 'bet' on the event not occurring.). Many such relatively illiquid securities are valued as marked to model, rather than an actual market price.

The stocks are listed and traded on stock exchanges which are entities of a corporation or mutual organization specialized in the business of bringing buyers and sellers of the organizations to a listing of stocks and securities together. The stock market in the United States includes the trading of all securities listed on the NYSE Euronext, the NASDAQ, the Amex, as well as on the many regional exchanges, e.g. OTCBB and Pink Sheets. European examples of stock exchanges include the London Stock Exchange, the Deutsche Börse.

Equity trading is the buying and selling of company stock shares. Shares in large publicly-traded companies are bought and sold through one of the major stock exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange or Tokyo Stock Exchange, which serve as managed auctions for stock trades. Stock shares in smaller public companies are bought and sold in over-the-counter (OTC) markets.

Equity trading can be performed by the owner of the shares, or by an agent authorized to buy and sell on behalf of the share's owner. Proprietary trading or principal trading is buying and selling for the trader's own profit or loss. In this case, the principal is the owner of the shares. Agency trading is buying and selling by an agent, usually a stock broker, on behalf of a client. Agents are paid a commission for performing the trade.

Major stock exchanges have market makers who help limit price variation (volatility) by buying and selling a particular company's shares on their own behalf and also on behalf of others clients

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