Stock Market for Beginners - Basics About World Stock Exchanges

This stock market for beginners guide to investing will provide you basic information about worldwide stock exchanges.

Stock market is changing at the speed of light. It wasn't like that for more than two hundred years, when stock trading typically took place at a physical location, usually at a stock exchange, and during a specific period of time, or trading hours. Today, it is much easier to trade the stock market for beginners than ever before.

Internet Influenced Stock Trading Dramatically

Stock Market For Beginners

Today, it's becoming hard to imagine that the opportunity to invest was ever limited by time and space. Stock market are automated today, you can trade almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year; you can trade anywhere in the world at any time.

The internet has caused major shifts in stock market trading and investing. No other sector of the world's economy has been affected by the rapid development of e-commerce as much as the investing industry. Accordingly, investors want the instantaneous trading and access-to-information capabilities that only online technologies can provide. Worldwide, markets and regulators have responded quickly to meet their needs.

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From Traditional Floor to Global Electronic Trading Venues

Domestic Market Cap.(USD bn)

In 2000 US markets were very dominant...

Stock Market for Beginners - 2000

Today Asia markets gain share...

Stock Market for Beginners - 2009

Source: WFE

Meeting the growing demand for faster trading and access to investment information created advanced electronic trading venues. Automated trading platforms are replacing traditional floor brokers. Execution time was brought down from more than nine seconds to lest then a second nowadays. As you can read in several stock market for beginners guides, professional stock brokers have no technology advantage over private investors any more.

Stock exchanges are merging cross borders, to become more efficient and cost effective in technology development. The NYSE merged with a pan-European stock exchange Euronext and has become the first global stock exchange. Nasdaq has acquired a substantial portion of the London Stock Exchange, expected to further strengthen Nasdaq's dominant position in the OTC markets.

Changes in Worldwide Stock Exchanges Domination

New technologies give companies listed on the stock market today access to pools of capital all over the world. Investors are able to buy and sell shares of international companies as easily as trading in their local markets. The proof of trading globalization can be also seen in change of market capitalization and trading volume over last two decades.

America stock exchanges used to have a dominant role in worldwide trading; they still have the leading position, but the rest of the world, especially Asia is catching them fast. There are many financial gurus who predicted that new financial center of twenty-first century could be somewhere in China, probably Hong Kong or Shanghai.

Stock Market for Beginners Debate About the Next Big Sector

Just as a country's influence over global economics evolves, so do the sectors of an economy. The majorities of the sectors today (represented by market capitalization) were non-existent at the beginning of the last century. Clearly, technological advancements had a big impact on the stock market. Just as railroads consumed the investing public in the latter part of the nineteenth century, computers and the internet did the same at the end of the twentieth century.

For all we know, the dominant sector at the end of the twenty-first century may not even exist today. Which technologies will have the most profound impact on the world's productivity in the future? In order to successfully invest in these technologies, you will need to predict these changes before they affect the market - a task that is much easier said than done.

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Innovative Financial Instruments

Even just few years ago it was impossible for small investor to even think of investing in commodities for example. Commodities trading used to trade on special commodities exchanges like physical trading and later like forward or future contracts with physical delivery at the end. Today, with explosion of trading with derivatives on commodities, it is as easy to buy a barrel of oil as a Microsoft stock. However, if you are a novice investor, we recommend you to stick to some basic stock market for beginners guidelines and stay away from 'exotic' financial instruments, until you will totaly understand them.

On the stock market today it is possible to buy almost anything. You can buy oil, gas, cooper, zinc and other industrial metals, gold, silver and other precious metals, coffee, soya bean, sugar and other agricultures, different currency pairs, you can even "bet" on the summer temperature in some major cities over the world. And what is even more interesting, brokers have developed sophisticated trading platforms which allow you to trade all this instruments via one single trading platform with just a mouse click.

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Where To Go Next?

Stock Market Basics - About Stock Markets

Stock Market History Milestones
Read about evolution of stock markets through the stock market history, which can be helpful for newbie's in understanding how stock markets actually work.

Stock Market Symbols - Market Identification Codes (MIC) For Global Exchanges
You can find a list of worldwide stock exchanges on this website, together with the stock market symbols (Market Identification Codes - MIC) and links directly to their official websites.

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US/Canada Stock Markets

Dow Jones Stock Market - Overview of American Stock Exchanges
The Dow Jones stock market is the largest and leading stock market in the world. It provides investors with the best multiform and secure financial instruments.

NY Stock Market
NY stock market or New York Stock Exchange (shortly NYSE), located in the Wall Street, is the largest stock exchange in the world in terms of trading volume.

NASDAQ Stock Exchange
NASDAQ stock exchange is an electronic US marketplace, one of the biggest stock exchanges in the world, where traders and investors buy and sell mostly stocks from technology sector.

AMEX Stock Exchange
AMEX Stock Exchange, acquired by NYSE Euronext, represents third-largest U.S. options marketplace and a leadership in ETFs, cash equities, closed-end funds and structured products.

OTC Stocks Trading - Bilateral Contract In Off-Exchange Market
OTC stocks market (Over-The-Counter or off-exchange market) offers trading financial instruments directly between two parties which agree on how a particular trade is to be settled in the future.

PinkSheets - OTC Market Requiring Investors To Be Extremely Cautious
Pinksheets is electronic quotation system referring to OTC trading, where unlike on a stock exchange companies do not need to meet minimum requirements or file with the SEC.

Toronto Stock Market - The Canadian Stock Exchange
Toronto stock market (TSX) is the largest stock exchange in Canada, third largest in America and among the biggest in the world as well.

Vancouver Stock Exchange, VAN
Vancouver Stock Exchange is a defunct stock exchange, where a large number of small cap and exploration companies stocks were traded.

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Europe Stock Markets

London Stock Market
London stock market, which was founded in 1801 and is located in the City of London - UK, is one of the largest world stock exchanges and the largest in Europe.

Frankfurt Stock Exchange
Frankfurt stock exchange is one of the world's largest trading centers for securities. It generates more than 90% of turnover in German markets and ranks first among seven exchanges.

NYSE Euronext
NYSE Euronext is a Euro-American corporation that operates multiple securities exchanges in US and Europe and was established in 2007 when NYSE merged with Euronext.

Russian Stock Market - Investing Opportunity, but with High Political Risk
Russian stock market has recently posted outstanding returns. It provides investors with marginal trade and uncovered shares sale options, futures and options.

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Asia and Pacific Stock Markets

Tokyo Stock Exchange, TSE
Tokyo Stock Exchange is among 5 largest stock exchanges in the world, with more than 2,000 companies listed and by aggregate market capitalization of more than $3 trillion.

Hong Kong Stock Exchange, HKEx
Hong Kong Stock Exchange is based in a leading international financial centre, and its exchanges and clearing houses serve a wide range of companies, investors and market intermediaries.

Singapore Stock Exchange, SGX
Singapore Stock Exchange is Asia-Pacific's first demutualised and integrated securities and derivatives exchange.

Australian Securities Exchange, ASX
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) with headquarter in Sydney is the primary marketplace for securities trading in Australia.

China Investing - Market with High Long-Term Yield Opportunity
China investing market is sixth largest stock market in the world. It provides investors A, B, H and red chips shares with the third generation system AMS/3.

Investing in India - Emerging Market that has Already Emerged
Investing in India, the third largest stock exchange in the world, provides investors with stocks, ETFs, futures and options capabilities.

 

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