Stock prices depend on supply and demand, so you’ll see them go up if someone buys a lot of shares at once, or down when trading activity slows down. The stock’s price reflects what people are willing to pay for it – but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily a good value. A company can be performing well without its stock price responding in kind – or vice versa. Stocks are issued by companies to raise funds. As the price of a stock rises, larger sums of money are required to purchase additional shares.

A share is the smallest unit of ownership that can exist in any company. When you have a share, you own a part of the company and with it comes a share of the company’s profits.