A stock is a unit of ownership in a company. When you buy a share of Tesla, you hold a stake in Tesla's value. The company raises capital to grow, and you get exposure to its future performance.

Stocks are bought and sold through brokerages and trading platforms. You open an account, deposit funds, search for the stock you want, and place an order. The platform handles everything behind the scenes, routing your order, matching it with a seller, and settling the trade. Whether you're using a traditional brokerage or a multi-asset platform like L7, the experience is the same: pick a stock, choose your size, and execute.

The price of any stock at any given moment reflects what buyers are willing to pay and what sellers are willing to accept. If more people want to buy than sell, the price goes up. If more want to sell than buy, it goes down. That tension between supply and demand is the entire engine behind stock price movement.

Why stocks matter as an asset class

Equities are the largest and most liquid asset class in the world. The global stock market represents over $100 trillion in total value. For traders, that liquidity means tighter spreads, faster execution, and more predictable price behavior compared to thinner markets.

Stocks also offer something most other asset classes don't: a direct connection to real business performance. When a company grows revenue, launches a product, or beats earnings expectations, the stock responds. That link between business fundamentals and price gives traders a constant stream of catalysts to analyze and trade around.

How stock trading actually works

When you place an order to buy a stock, your order gets matched with someone else's sell order. If you place a market order, you get filled at the best available price immediately. If you place a limit order, you set the price you want and wait for the market to come to you.

Every stock trade has two sides. For every buyer, there's a seller. The difference between the highest price a buyer will pay (the bid) and the lowest price a seller will accept (the ask) is called the spread. Tighter spreads mean lower trading costs. Heavily traded stocks like Apple or Microsoft have spreads measured in fractions of a cent. Less liquid stocks can have spreads wide enough to eat into your returns.

What moves a stock's price

Stock prices react to anything that changes the market's perception of a company's future value. Earnings reports are the most direct driver. Every public company reports revenue and profit quarterly, and the market reprices the stock based on whether results beat or miss expectations.

Beyond individual companies, stocks respond to macroeconomic forces. Interest rate decisions from the Federal Reserve affect borrowing costs for every business. Inflation data changes consumer spending expectations. Geopolitical events create uncertainty that ripples across entire sectors.

Understanding these forces doesn't require years of financial education. It requires paying attention to what makes buyers and sellers change their minds.