
What Makes a Stock Go Up and Down?
- Technical Factors. A whole segment of market participants utilizes market data to determine which stocks should be bought and when.
- Exogenous Events. Sometimes, valuation, technical analysis and other factors don’t matter as much as global events. ...
- Macroeconomic Environment. ...
- Current Market Trends. ...
What makes the stock market go up and down?
Jan 02, 2022 · Stock prices are driven up and down in the short term by supply and demand, and the supply-demand balance is driven by market sentiment. But investors don't change their opinions every second. So...
Why do stocks keep going up?
Sep 27, 2021 · If you’ve ever seen a company’s stock price go up or down following an earnings call, it’s because of the news. “The trick is to decipher news that can have an impact on fundamental factors versus...
How do you make money on stocks?
Stock prices go up and down based on supply and demand. When people want to buy a stock versus sell it, the price goes up. If people want to sell a stock versus buying it, the price goes …
How high will the market go?
May 16, 2016 · What makes a stock go up or down is determined by the recent operating results of a business and its future expectations. This means stock prices reflect both fundamentals …

What is earnings base?
An earnings base, such as earnings per share (EPS) A valuation multiple, such as a P/E ratio. An owner of common stock has a claim on earnings, and earnings per share (EPS) is the owner's return on their investment. When you buy a stock, you are purchasing a proportional share of an entire future stream of earnings.
Why is low inflation bad for stocks?
2 Deflation, on the other hand, is generally bad for stocks because it signifies a loss in pricing power for companies.
How does news affect stock market?
The political situation, negotiations between countries or companies, product breakthroughs , mergers and acquisitions , and other unforeseen events can impact stocks and the stock market. Since securities trading happens across the world and markets and economies are interconnected, news in one country can impact investors in another, almost instantly.
What is valuation multiple?
The valuation multiple expresses expectations about the future. As we already explained, it is fundamentally based on the discounted present value of the future earnings stream. Therefore, the two key factors here are:
What drives stock prices?
Stock prices are driven by a variety of factors, but ultimately the price at any given moment is due to the supply and demand at that point in time in the market. Fundamental factors drive stock prices based on a company's earnings and profitability from producing and selling goods and services. Technical factors relate to a stock's price history ...
Why do you buy stock with a valuation multiple?
That's the reason for the valuation multiple: It is the price you are willing to pay for the future stream of earnings. 1:26.
Why do small cap stocks have a liquidity discount?
Many small-cap stocks suffer from an almost permanent "liquidity discount" because they simply are not on investors' radar screens.
How to measure market sentiment?
Plumb says we can measure market sentiment using the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), or the “fear index.” The higher the VIX goes, the higher the fear in traders. The lower the VIX, the lesser the fear. When the market is stressed, VIX goes up. The VIX averaged 15.4 in 2019 but reached an almost-record high of 82.69 at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, according to Reuters.
Why invest in index funds?
One benefit of investing in index funds is that you can start building wealth even if you don’t have a lot of technical knowledge about the stock market. But for investors interested in adding individual stocks to their portfolio, it can be helpful to have a basic understanding of how to research stocks and monitor stock prices. That starts by paying attention to the news cycle, market conditions — and even your gut.
How does a breakout news story affect a stock's price?
Everything from a breakout news story to a shareholder meeting can impact a stock’s price. A lot of times, it has to do with supply and demand, such as we saw during the infamous GameStop surge, when a collective of small individual traders drove share prices up. While some lucky traders were able to sell the stock at its peak and profit, many traders hoping to make a quick buck instead lost money when the price eventually fell back down .
What is the animal spirit theory?
The Animal Spirit Theory: This theory assumes that people act on instinct in situations of uncertainty, the same way animals are said to operate. In turn, actions — like making moves on the stock market — are also driven by instinct. When the market is good, investors will buy. When the market is bad, investors will sell. Even if the instinct isn’t necessarily right, it’s a driving force in decision-making.
What are technical factors?
Technical factors are things that change the supply and demand of the stock that won’t fundamentally alter the prospects of generating cash , Plumb says.
What is the P/E ratio?
The most famous metric is the price-to-earnings — or P/E — ratio. A P/E ratio is the ratio of a company’s share price to its earnings per share. Investors use these ratios to compare the performances of similar companies against one company’s records, both historical and projected earnings.
What is behavioral financial theory?
The Behavioral Financial Theory: This theory looks at psychological factors when analyzing financial markets. Some investors act on emotion and in some cases, overconfidence in a particular security or asset. These reactions can cause biased investing decisions, potentially hurting your investment.
Why do stock prices go up and down?
Stock prices go up and down based on supply and demand. When people want to buy a stock versus selling it, the price goes up. If people want to sell a stock versus buying it, the price goes down. Forecasting whether there will be more buyers or sellers in a stock requires additional research, however. Buyers are attracted to stocks ...
Why are buyers attracted to stocks?
Buyers are attracted to stocks for any number of reasons, from low valuation to new product lines to market hype. Learning how the stock exchange works is the first step in understanding the factors that make a stock go up and down; knowing what makes stocks valuable can help you predict which ones are more likely to rise.
What attracts buyers to a stock?
One of the factors that attracts buyers to a stock is valuation . Companies can be valued in a number of different ways, but earnings per share and P/E ratio are two common factors in the equation.
What is stock in business?
A stock is simply an ownership share in a physical company. Stock shares allow investors to buy or sell an interest in a company on an exchange through a bidding process. Sellers indicate prices at which they are asking to give up their shares, and buyers similarly post prices at which they’re bidding to buy shares.
Why do stocks go up?
Sometimes, stocks go up simply because they have been going up. In a strategy known as momentum investing, investors buy shares in rising stocks and sell shares in those that are following. This momentum builds on itself and continues to drive rising share prices higher.
What is technical analysis?
Technical analysis is an alternative way to determine supply and demand for a stock using historical and other factors. Technical analysis relies on price movements only, rather than other valuation factors.
What happens after a trade at $10.10?
After the first trade at $10.10, there are no more sellers willing to accept such a low price. The next trade occurs at $10.20, as the demand to pay a higher price exceeds the willingness of sellers to accept a lower price.
Why are stocks not priced based on current operating results?
Because the future is uncertain, stocks cannot be priced based on a business's current operating results alone. They must be valued by predicting future performance. Price ratios. In order to quantify these predictions, investors use price ratios .
How to close a modal window?
This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.
What makes a stock go up or down?
What makes a stock go up or down is determined by the recent operating results of a business and its future expectations.
What does P/E mean in stock?
For example, a Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio of -…, says that a stock is valued -… times higher than its current earnings.
How many scenarios are there for futures?
Although there are countless numbers of possible futures when considering a stock investment, there are really only three general scenarios.
Can stock analysts predict future performance?
No matter how badly stock analysts pretend to be fortune tellers, no one can accurately forecast a company's future performance (especially on a consistent basis).
Is it possible for a stock to go up or down?
It's impossible to pinpoint exactly what makes a stock go up or down on a daily basis. To borrow a phrase from The Princess Bride, "Anyone who says differently is selling something."
What happens when there is a greater number of buyers than sellers?
If there is a greater number of buyers than sellers (more demand ), the buyers bid up the prices of the stocks to entice sellers to get rid of them. Conversely, a larger number of sellers bids down the price of stocks hoping to entice buyers to purchase.
Why are investors more likely to buy stocks?
Investors are more likely to purchase stocks if they are convinced their shares will increase in value in the future. If, however, there is a reason to believe that shares will perform poorly, there are often more investors looking to sell than to buy. Events that affect investor confidence include:
Why do economists say that markets tend towards equilibrium?
This is why economists say that markets tend towards equilibrium , where supply equals demand. This is how it works with stocks; supply is the amount of shares people want to sell, and demand is the amount of shares people want to purchase. If there is a greater number of buyers than sellers ...
How do interest rates affect the economy?
First, interest rates affect how much investors, banks, businesses, and governments are willing to borrow, therefore affecting how much money is spent in the economy. Additionally, rising interest rates make certain "safer" investments (notably U.S. Treasuries) a more attractive alternative to stocks.
How many points did the Nasdaq lose in 2020?
For example, the largest single-day decrease in the history of the Nasdaq Composite Index took place on March 16, 2020. The market "lost" (traded down) 970.28 points, over 12% of its value.
Is the stock market a living entity?
"The market," so to speak, is not a living entity. Instead, it is just shorthand for the collective values of individual companies.
Who is Katharine Beer?
Katharine Beer is a writer, editor, and archivist based in New York. She has a broad range of experience in research and writing, having covered subjects as diverse as the history of New York City's community gardens and Beyonce's 2018 Coachella performance.
What are the three players in the stock market?
Stock market investments are dominated by three players, FPI, FII and DII. If they are buying in stock market, the index will move up. If they are selling, index will fall. [P.Note: The effect of FPI/FII is more dominant on stock market index than any other type of investors.]
How to predict future price of stock?
This method of predicting future price of a stock is based on a basic formula. The formula is shown above (P/E x EPS = Price).
How to predict stock price?
There are two ways one can predict stock price. One is by evaluation of the stock’s intrinsic value. Second is by trying to guess stock’s future PE and EPS.
What does it mean when FPI goes in negative?
It means, FPI/FII’s are selling their holdings more than they are buying. Hence it is causing the Nifty50 index to fall.
How to tell if an asset is overpriced?
How we can say if an asset is overpriced? Asset is said to be overpriced when its current price is higher than its “ fair price ‘. This is where the need of stock analysis comes into play.
Why do we do fundamental analysis?
Why to do fundamental analysis? This way we can ‘ estimate fair price ‘ of stocks. Once fair price of a stock is known, it can be compared with its market price to understand if the stock is ‘ overpriced ‘ or not.
How soon will a stock go up?
As a rule of thumb, a popular stock which is trading at a discount to its fair price (say at 2/3rd levels), can go up within next few months.
Why does the stock price move so slowly?
Other times, the price moves slowly, because there are few transactions, or there are so many shares available at each bid or offer that it is very hard to move the price, even with lots of transactions going through.
Why do bid and ask prices move so quickly?
Prices move very quickly because they follow the speed at which transactions are occurring.
What happens when bid and ask prices match?
If the bid and ask prices match, a trade occurs. Those orders then disappear from the market, leaving the other bids and offers that haven't yet been matched.
Why does the price of a sell order drop?
When a sell order comes into the market that is bigger than the number of shares available at the current bid, then the bid price will drop because the selling absorbs all those shares at the current bid.
Why does the price of a buy order move up?
When a buy order comes into the market that is bigger than the number of shares available at the current offer, then the offer price will move up because the buying absorbs all of those shares at the current offer.
Why do market prices move?
Most people are aware that market prices move because of buying and selling, but not many people understand how buying and selling move market prices. It may be confusing at first glance, since every market transaction requires that there always be a buyer and a seller.
What is the ask price in the stock market?
The ask price is also referred to as the "offer" price.
Fundamental Factors
Technical Factors
- Things would be easier if only fundamental factors set stock prices. Technical factors are the mix of external conditions that alter the supply of and demand for a company's stock. Some of these indirectly affect fundamentals. For example, economic growthindirectly contributes to earnings growth. Technical factors include the following.
News
- While it is hard to quantify the impact of news or unexpected developments inside a company, industry, or the global economy, you can't argue that it does influence investor sentiment. The political situation, negotiations between countries or companies, product breakthroughs, mergers and acquisitions, and other unforeseen events can impact stocks and the stock market. Since s…
Market Sentiment
- Market sentiment refers to the psychology of market participants, individually and collectively. This is perhaps the most vexing category. Market sentiment is often subjective, biased, and obstinate. For example, you can make a solid judgment about a stock's future growth prospects, and the future may even confirm your projections, but in the meantime, the market may myopica…
The Bottom Line
- Different types of investors depend on different factors. Short-term investors and traders tend to incorporate and may even prioritize technical factors. Long-term investors prioritize fundamentals and recognize that technical factors play an important role. Investors who believe strongly in fundamentals can reconcile themselves to technical forces with the following popular argument…