This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.

A stock market is a public market for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.

The size of the world stock market was estimated at about 36.6 trillion US at the beginning of October 2008. ¹ The total world derivatives market has been estimated at about 791 trillion face or nominal value ² 11 times the size of the entire world economy. ³ The value of the derivatives market because it is stated in terms of notional values cannot be directly compared to a stock or a fixed income security which traditionally refers to an actual value. Moreover the vast majority of derivatives cancel each other out . Many such relatively illiquid securities are valued as marked to model rather than an actual market price.

The stocks are listed and traded on stock exchanges which are entities of a corporation or mutual organization specialized in the business of bringing buyers and sellers of the organizations to a listing of stocks and securities together. The stock market in the United States includes the trading of all securities listed on the NYSE Euronext the NASDAQ the Amex as well as on the many regional exchanges e.g. OTCBB and Pink Sheets. European examples of stock exchanges include the London Stock Exchange the Deutsche Brse.