A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include securities listed on a public stock exchange, as well as stock that is only traded privately, such as shares of private companies which are sold to investors through equity crowdfunding platforms. Investment in the stock market is most often done via stockbrokerages and electronic trading platforms. Investment is usually made with an investment strategy in mind.
Courtyard of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser in Dutch), the foremost centre of global securities markets in the 17th century
The trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2009
New York Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
National Stock Exchange of India
Offices of Bursa Malaysia, Malaysia's national stock exchange (known before demutualization as Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange)
Stocks can be categorized by the country where the company is domiciled. For example, Nestlé and Novartis are domiciled in Switzerland and traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange, so they may be considered as part of the Swiss stock market, although the stocks may also be traded on exchanges in other countries, for example, as American depositary receipts (ADRs) on U.S. stock markets.
