when a company offers its stock on the market it means the company is publicly traded and each stock represents a piece of ownership this appeals to investors and when a company does well its investors are rewarded as the value of their stocks rise 
the risk comes when a company is not doing well and its stock value may fall stocks can be bought and sold easily and quickly and the activity surrounding a certain stock impacts its value for example when there is a high demand to invest in the company the price of the stock tends to rise and when many investors want to sell their stocks the value goes down stock exchangesstock exchanges can be either physical places or virtual gathering spots nasdaq is an example of a virtual trading post in which stocks are traded electronically through a network of computers electronic trading posts are becoming more common and a preferred method of trading over physical exchanges the new york stock exchange nyse on wall street is a famous example of a physical stock exchange however there is also the option to trade in online exchanges from that location so it is technically a hybrid market most large companies have stocks that are listed on multiple stock exchanges throughout the world however companies with stocks in the equity market range from large scale to small and traders range from big companies to individual investors most buyers and sellers tend to prefer trading at larger exchanges where there are more options and opportunities than at smaller exchanges however in recent years there has been an uptick in the number of exchanges through third party markets which bypass the commission of a stock exchange but pose a greater risk of adverse selection and don t guarantee the payment or delivery of the stock in a physical exchange orders are made in open outcry format which is reminiscent of depictions of wall street in the movies traders shout and display hand signals across the floor in order to place trades physical exchanges are made on the trading floor and filter through a floor broker who finds the trading post specialist for that stock to put through the order physical exchanges are still very much human environments although there are a lot of functions performed by computers brokers are paid commissions on the stocks they work this form of trading has become rare and replaced by electronic communication 