By Leanna Kelly Interested in buying stock? After you’ve opened up a brokerage account and deposited funds, you’ll need to go out and buy shares. This happens on a stock exchange: a platform or institution through which securities trade in the market. Exchanges are a medium through which buyers acquire equity shares in companies and sellers offload them for a profit (or loss). The exchange represents the “marketplace” where public companies come to tap into public investment dollars.
Most investors don’t actually have direct communication with an exchange. Instead, they place orders through a broker who buys and sells shares on their behalf. …read more
