The origin of the stock market:
Stocks have been around for almost 400 years now. The earliest stock markets arose from the establishment of overseas trading companies in the Netherlands and England in 1602. These companies were established by raising share capital, with obvious features of the joint-stock company: the status of a legal person: the establishment of the board of directors: the general meeting of shareholders is the company's supreme authority; dividends by shares; limited liability.
The success of the joint-stock company and the rapid development of the company, so that more enterprises to follow suit, in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom set off a wave of the establishment of joint-stock companies. By 1695, about 100 new joint-stock companies had been formed in England.
The stock market is a place where issued shares are transferred, bought and sold, and circulated, and consists of two categories: the exchange market and the over-the-counter market. It is also known as the secondary market because it is based on the issue market. The structure and trading activities of the stock market are more complex than those of the issue market (primary market), and its role and influence are also greater.
Expanded Information:
Through the issuance of stocks, a large amount of money flows into the stock market, which in turn flows into the enterprises that issue the stocks, promotes the centralization of the capital, raises the enterprise capital organic composition, greatly accelerating the development of the commodity economy. On the other hand, through the circulation of stocks, small amounts of capital are brought together, which in turn accelerates the concentration and accumulation of capital.
So the stock market on the one hand for the circulation of the transfer of stock provides a basic place, on the one hand, can also stimulate people to buy stock desire, for the first level of the stock market to provide a guarantee of the issue. At the same time, because the stock market trading price can be more objective to reflect the stock market supply and demand, the stock market can also provide a reference basis for the primary market stock issuance price and quantity. The function of the stock market reflects the nature of the stock market.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Stock Market