What is the stock market?
As the name suggests, the stock market is a marketplace for the trading of stocks
or shares.
There are many stock markets around the world, and the UK’s main exchange is The
London
Stock Exchange (LSE).
To form a market index, company shares are grouped together, and their value is
combined as a
weighted average (the bigger the company the larger its effect on the value of
the index)
resulting in a figure. Generally, companies of similar size and value are
grouped together.
Often you hear the market being up or down. This relates to stock market indices
rising and
falling.
“If a company you hold shares in pays dividends, you’ll receive dividend
payments. If a
company is successful and manages to grow profits over time, the amount it pays
out as a
dividend can increase.”
A cryptocurrency, crypto currency or crypto is a digital asset designed to work
as a medium
of exchange wherein individual coin ownership records are stored in a ledger
existing in a
form of computerized database using strong cryptography to secure transaction
records, to
control the creation of additional coins, and to verify the transfer of coin
ownership. It
typically does not exist in physical form (like paper money) and is typically
not issued by
a central authority. Cryptocurrencies typically use decentralized control as
opposed to
centralized digital currency and central banking systems When a cryptocurrency
is minted or
created prior to issuance or issued by a single issuer, it is generally
considered
centralized. When implemented with decentralized control, each cryptocurrency
works through
distributed ledger technology, typically a blockchain, that serves as a public
financial
transaction database.