Stock Market Basics
Learn the fundamentals of how the stock market works.
10 lessons · about 45 minutes
- What is a stock?What owning a share means and why stock prices move.
- How the stock market worksExchanges, buyers and sellers, and how a trade happens.
- Share price vs. company sizeWhy a $50 stock can be a bigger company than a $500 stock.
- Indexes and ETFsThe S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow, and the funds that track them.
- Sectors and diversificationWhy spreading picks across different businesses matters.
- Market hours and pricesThe trading day, previous close, and extended hours.
- Risk and volatilityWhy some stocks swing more, and what that means for a contest.
- How Closing Bell Picks contests workBudgets, picks, whole shares, swaps, and scoring.
- How scoring worksTotal return, the prices used, ties, and what happens to dividends and splits.
- Contest settings: swaps, sector slots, and head startsThe rules a commissioner can set, and how each one changes the game.