Stock prices change everyday by market forces. By this we mean that share prices change because of supply and demand. If more people want to buy a stock (demand) than sell it (supply), then the price moves up. Conversely, if more people wanted to sell a stock than buy it, there would be greater supply than demand, and the price would fall.
Understanding supply and demand is easy. What is difficult to comprehend is what makes people like a particular stock and dislike another stock. This comes down to figuring out what news is positive for a company and what news is negative. There are many answers to this problem and just about any investor you ask has their own ideas and strategies.
That being said, the principal theory is that the price movement of a stock indicates what investors feel a company is worth. Don't equate a company's value with the stock price. The value of a company is its market capitalization, which is the stock price multiplied by the number of shares outstanding. For example, a company that trades at $100 per share and has 1,000,000 shares outstanding has a lesser value than a company that trades at $50 but has 5,000,000 shares outstanding ($100 x 1,000,000 = $100,000,000 while $50 x 5,000,000 = $250,000,000). To further complicate things, the price of a stock doesn't only reflect a company's current value–it also reflects the growth that investors expect in the future.
The most important factor that affects the value of a company is its earnings. Earnings are the profit a company makes, and in the long run no company can survive without them. It makes sense when you think about it. If a company never makes money, they aren't going to stay in business. Public companies are required to report their earnings four times a year (once each quarter). Wall Street watches with rabid attention at these times, which are referred to as earnings seasons. The reason behind this is that analysts base their future value of a company on their earnings projection. If a company's results surprise (are better than expected), the price jumps up. If a company's results disappoint (are worse than expected), then the price will fall.
Of course, it's not just earnings that can change the sentiment towards a stock (which, in turn, changes its price). It would be a rather simple world if this were the case! During the dot-com bubble, for example, dozens of Internet companies rose to have market capitalizations in the billions of dollars without ever making even the smallest profit. As we all know, these valuations did not hold, and most all Internet companies saw their values shrink to a fraction of their highs. Still, the fact that prices did move that much demonstrates that there are factors other than current earnings that influence stocks. Investors have developed literally hundreds of these variables, ratios and indicators. Some you may have already heard of, such as the P/E ratio , while others are extremely complicated and obscure with names like Chaikin Oscillator or Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) .
So, why do stock prices change? The best answer is that nobody really knows for sure. Some believe that it isn't possible to predict how stocks will change in price while others think that by drawing charts and looking at past price movements, you can determine when to buy and sell. The only thing we do know as a certainty is that stocks are volatile and can change in price extremely rapidly.
The important things to grasp about this subject are the following:
- At the most fundamental level, supply and demand in the market determine stock price.
- Price times the number of shares outstanding (market capitalization) is the value of a company. Comparing just the share price of two companies is meaningless.
- Theoretically earnings are what affect investors' valuation of a company, but there are other indicators that investors use to predict stock price. Remember, it is investors' sentiments, attitudes, and expectations that ultimately affect stock prices.
- There are many theories that try to explain the way stock prices move the way they do. Unfortunately, there is no one theory that can explain everything.
FAQs
These forces fall into three categories: fundamental factors, technical factors, and market sentiment.
What actually changes a stock price? ›
Stock prices change everyday by market forces. By this we mean that share prices change because of supply and demand. If more people want to buy a stock (demand) than sell it (supply), then the price moves up.
What causes share prices to go up and down? ›
For each share they buy, an investor owns a piece of that company. In large part, supply and demand dictate the per-share price of a stock. If demand for a limited number of shares outpaces the supply, then the stock price normally rises. And if the supply is greater than demand, the stock price typically falls.
What factors cause stock prices to change? ›
There are four main factors that can affect stock prices:
- Company news and performance.
- Industry performance.
- Investor sentiment.
- Economic factors.
Some of the common indicators that predict stock prices include Moving Averages, Relative Strength Index (RSI), Bollinger Bands, and MACD (Moving Average Convergence Divergence). These indicators help traders and investors gauge trends, momentum, and potential reversal points in stock prices.
What are 4 factors that affect stock prices? ›
Let's look at some of the most common drivers of stock prices over the short term.
- Economic factors. One area that has a big influence on stock prices is data related to the overall economy. ...
- Political news. ...
- Technical reasons. ...
- Earnings growth. ...
- Dividends. ...
- Change in valuation.
Once a company goes public and its shares start trading on a stock exchange, its share price is determined by supply and demand in the market. If there is a high demand for its shares, the price will increase.
Are stock price changes random? ›
Random walk theory suggests that changes in asset prices are random. This means that stock prices move unpredictably, so that past prices cannot be used to accurately predict future prices. Random walk theory also implies that the stock market is efficient and reflects all available information.
How frequently do stock prices change? ›
Every time a block of shares is bought and sold, the stock price changes to reflect the latest transaction price. The sheer number of transactions ensures that the stock price fluctuates every second, even if there's been no change in market sentiment.
Why do stock prices keep fluctuating? ›
Economic indicators such as interest rate fluctuations, financial forecasts, and inflation rates exert considerable influence on share prices. Generally, an increase in interest rates and inflation, coupled with a bleak economic outlook, tends to dampen demand for shares, resulting in a decrease in their prices.
What goes up if the stock market crashes? There is nothing that will definitely go up if the stock market crashes. Interest bearing investments such as money market funds will continue to earn interest. Bonds may hold their value or increase, and individual bonds including Treasury's will continue to earn interest.
What makes a stock go up or down? ›
High demand is the primary driver of what makes a stock price go up. The higher the demand, the higher the price investors will be willing to pay for each share (and the higher the price owners will be demanding to sell their shares). Similarly, low demand is the primary driver of what makes a stock price go down.
What caused stock market prices to fall? ›
The term "stock market crash" refers to a sudden and substantial drop in stock prices. Stock market crashes are often the result of several economic factors, including speculation, panic selling, or economic bubbles. They may occur amid the fallout of an economic crisis or major catastrophic event.
How can you tell how a stock is doing? ›
Metrics like earnings growth, price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, and profit margin can potentially help isolate possible danger signs for a stock. Traders often compare a stock to its sector and see how it's doing compared to other stocks. Case in point: the P/E ratio.
What are the 3 main causes of the stock market crash? ›
Among the more prominent causes were the period of rampant speculation (those who had bought stocks on margin not only lost the value of their investment, they also owed money to the entities that had granted the loans for the stock purchases), tightening of credit by the Federal Reserve (in August 1929 the discount ...
What are the three major stock changes in the US? ›
In the United States, the three leading stock indexes are the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite.
What influences a stock price to go up or down? ›
In the short term, stocks go up and down because of the law of supply and demand. Billions of shares of stock are bought and sold each day, and it's this buying and selling that sets stock prices.
Why do prices change? ›
External factors such as industry shifts, government regulations, or even severe weather that affects company operations can also influence price changes; investors and analysts weigh how those elements may influence a company's' performance in the future.
