Stock prices fluctuate every few seconds to reflect the price at which the latest transaction was concluded.
The price of a stock on an exchange is a function of the demand and supply for the stock at a given point in time, and the price at which the last transaction was concluded is used to represent such demand and supply at that point in time.
There can be a large number of people trading a stock at any given time, with each of them willing to buy or sell the stock at different prices. The price listed by the exchange may be an average of the various prices at which transactions were concluded at a given time, or some other combination, but they will always tend to reflect the price at which the latest transactions were concluded.
Exchanges are programmed to refresh on a periodic basis (a second/ every few seconds/ a minute, etc.). The price at which the latest transaction was concluded prior to the refresh is then displayed, until the next round of refresh. As a result, stock prices change every second/ few seconds/ etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment