A market is a place where buyers and sellers agree on a price. There is no hidden mechanism: price moves because, at that moment, more people are willing to pay a higher price than sell at it (it rises), or the reverse (it falls).
Bid, ask and the spread
Every market shows two prices. The bid is the highest price a buyer will pay right now. The ask is the lowest price a seller will accept. The gap between them is the spread.
When you buy at market you pay the ask; when you sell you receive the bid. That means every trade starts slightly behind by the spread. It is the first, smallest and most certain cost of trading, and it is why very short-term trading is harder than it looks.
Who is on the other side
When you trade, someone else is taking the other side. They may be a bank, a fund, an algorithm, a broker's own book or another individual. Most of them have more information, more capital and faster tools than you. That is not a reason to give up. It is a reason to be modest, to focus on managing risk rather than predicting, and to learn first.
Common markets
- Foreign exchange (forex): currencies traded in pairs such as EUR/USD. Very liquid, trades almost around the clock on weekdays.
- Shares: ownership stakes in companies, traded during exchange hours.
- Indices: a basket of shares tracked as one number, such as the S&P 500.
- Commodities and crypto assets: gold, oil, and digital assets, each with their own behaviour and risks.
Price moves for reasons you usually cannot see
News, interest rates, large orders and sentiment all move price, and you rarely know which one is at work. That is why this site teaches how to read what price is doing and how to manage being wrong, rather than how to predict what comes next.