Stock Market Basics

Most of the trading of stocks happens on a stock exchange. There’s a lot of action that takes place between your order and the confirmation of it. It goes something like this: You place your order with your broker to buy, for example, 100 shares of the Coca-Cola Company. The broker sends the order to the firm’s order department.
The order department will then send your order to the firm’s clerk. This person, who works on the floor of the exchange where shares of Coca-Cola are sold, among thousands of other types of stocks, are traded (the New York Stock Exchange). The clerk gives the order to the firm’s floor trader, who also works on the exchange floor. The floor trader goes to the specialist’s post for Coca-Cola and finds another floor trader who is willing to sell shares of Coca-Cola.
The traders agree on a price, the order is executed. The floor trader reports the trade to the clerk and the order department. The order department will then confirm your order with the broker. The broker confirms the trade with you. That’s how a traditional stock exchange works. You will probably need the services of a brokerage firm if you’d like to buy a share of stock in any publicly traded company.