The stock market refers to public markets that exist for issuing, buying, and selling stocks that trade on stock exchanges. Stocks represent fractional ownership in a company. The stock market is where traders buy and sell stocks. The stock market serves two important purposes. For companies, it provides a means to acquire capital as a way to fund and expand their business. For stock traders, it provides an opportunity to share in the profits of publicly traded companies. In the U.S., there are multiple regional stock exchanges, while most other countries maintain a single stock exchange. Stock trading is the activity of buying and selling shares of publicly traded companies with the goal of securing a profit or loss.

Shares are units of ownership in individual companies. Owning shares entitles the holder to a proportion of the companies’ profits. When you share trade, profits come from increases in the value of company shares and the payment of dividends to shareholders, and these are based on company performance. Shares trading is the buying and selling of company stock with the aim of making a profit. It allows you to obtain legal ownership in a specific company. Once you have shares in a company you own part of the underlying asset. This means you can receive company dividends and are able to vote in company meetings.

Energy trading involves products like crude oil, electricity, natural gas and wind power. Since these commodities often fluctuate abruptly they can be attractive to speculators. Energy shares can be bought and sold in the stock market through share trading, which involves purchasing the stock outright and taking partial ownership of the underlying asset, or they can spread bet and trade CFDs on the price movements of energy share prices.

Foreign Exchange (forex or FX) is the trading of one currency for another. For example, one can swap the U.S. dollar for the euro. Foreign exchange transactions can take place on the foreign exchange market, also known as the forex market. Forex trading is the process of speculating on currency prices to potentially make a profit. Currencies are traded in pairs, so by exchanging one currency for another, a trader is speculating on whether one currency will rise or fall in value against the other. Forex brokers do not charge commissions. Instead, they make money through spreads (also known as pips) between the buying and selling prices.