What is a Share?

A Share is a little piece of a company, often called a Share or Stock. A Share represents a unit of ownership of the company from which you bought it. If you own a share of Company A, you own a tiny portion of Company A, along with all the other shareholders in that company.

For example, you bought 100 shares of Rs. 200 each of X company, then you become a shareholder of X company among other shareholders.

I hope you got an idea about a Stock or Share and what does it mean? Now before going to learn about the operations of Share Market, we should learn a little bit about Share Market.

What is Share Market?

In short, the Share market is a platform where buying and selling a company’s shares takes place. The Share Market is a collaboration of buyers and sellers of shares on a common platform called Stock Exchange like NSE & BSE in India. Share market is also known with another name like Stock Market or Equity Market.

The Stock market works as a platform where investors can buy or sell shares of publicly listed companies through Brokers. Or we can say, Share Market is an interface (through a Broker) between Investors, Traders, and Publicly listed companies on the Stock Exchange.

Share Market is the source for companies to raise funds and for Investors to buy ownership in business by acquiring shares of a particular company. A Stock Market is a place, Where investors and companies come together as partners and share their Profit & Loss.

Alongside shares of companies, other financial instruments are also traded in the stock market. These instruments will be discussed later in this article.

Share Market in India

Share Market is not a new thing in India. It traces its history a way back in the 18th century where trading used to take place under the shades of a Banyan tree, opposite the Town Hall Mumbai.

People used to gather here to trade cotton informally until 1850 when the Companies Act was introduced. Later people have shown their interest in corporate equities and in the next 100 years, it has grown further.

The Bombay Stock Exchange was established in 1875 and it took too long to get recognized by the Government. Finally, in 1957, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was officially recognized by the Government of India under the Securities Contracts Regulation Act. Later, SENSEX was introduced in 1986.

With the growing market in India, it became the necessity of that time, to form a regulatory body that can monitor and regulate the trades on the Share Market. So, in 1988, the Security Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was introduced as a regulatory body for the Indian Share Market. In 1992, SEBI was granted its independent power to regulate the security market and Stock Exchange.

Types of Share Market

Stock Market is a comprehensive thing, so now we’ll dive into the types of Share Market. Basically, the Stock market is divided into two main types:

1. Primary Share Market

As we know that a company raises funds through the Share market by going public. The Primary Market allows a company to get registered to issue Shares to the public to raise money via Initial Public Offer (IPO). Primary Market is the only way to get listed on the Stock Exchange for a company. An Initial Public Offer or IPO is a primary mechanism for companies to offer Shares for the first time. After that company becomes Public. The company has to provide details about itself, its business, its promoters, financial instruments, and Stocks being issued before filing for an IPO.

2. Secondary Share Market

After offering an IPO, the company gets listed on a particular Stock Exchange and is directly available to retail investors in the Secondary Market for buying and selling their Shares. Basically, Secondary Market allows Inventors to buy and sell shares at the current price. At the secondary market, all transactions are conducted through a Broker.

Main Components of Share Market

To learn the basics of Share Market Working procedures, you need to understand what are the main components that form the Stock Market. I’ve tried to write in very simple language so everyone can understand and hope that you got an idea about Share, Share Market & its types. Now we’ll move on to the Main Components of the Share Market their relationship with each other. Publicly Listed Companies, Stock exchanges, Trading Participants, and Investors are the main components of the Stock Market these collectively form the term “Share Market”.

For better understating, let’s discuss the main components of the Stock Market & their relationship:

1. The Publicly Listed Company & The Stock Exchange

A company applies to the Stock Exchange to offer its shares to the public through Initial Public Offer (IPO). The company must comply with stringent requirements before the shares are available to the public.

2. The Stock Exchange & The Trading Participant (Broker)

As I mentioned above, the stock exchange is a platform to trade shares but does not directly deal with investors. Stock Exchange licenses Trading Participants to buy and sell shares, only to simplify work and purpose. The Stock Exchange is monitoring the authority of publicly Listed companies while the Trading Participants transact with the investing public (Investors).

3. The Trading Participant & Investors

If you want to start investing in the Share Market, you have to contact a trading participant (broker) for the DEMAT account. For taking care of your transactions, the broker will charge you a very small fee. The broker also provides you with Investing advice for companies, that are good for Investment in addition to their transaction services (not necessary).

Depository Participants

There is also a Depositary Participant that you need to be aware of.

• NSDL (National Securities Depository Limited) – NSDL, the first and largest depository in India, established in August 1996 and promoted by institutions of national stature has established a state-of-the-art infrastructure that handles most of the securities held and settled in dematerialized form in the Indian capital market. (source – nsdl.co.in)
• CDSL (Central Depository Services Limited) – CDSL, facilitates the holding of securities in electronic form and enables securities transactions to be processed by book entry through its Depository Participants (DP). Central Depository Services Limited works for Bombay Stock Exchange and promoted by State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Axis Bank, and the Union Bank of India. (source – cdslindia.com)

These two have their agents in the form of Depository Participants who will provide an account to store the shares you hold. It is not the same as Demat and Trading account as in Demat it shows the number of shares you hold and the Trading reflects the buying and selling that has taken place in your account. Depository Participants will hold those shares you bought and release the shares you sold. However, it is usually taken care of by your broker who will also guide you about the Demat, Trading account opening process as well as register with a Depository. But you need to be aware of it nonetheless.

Stock Exchanges in India

These are the only two main exchanges in India where buying and selling of shares, commodities, and other trading instruments take place. These two stock exchanges are National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

You need to mention the exchange to your broker too while placing the order, as there is usually a slight difference in the price of shares at the two exchanges. However, your broker can guide you here in case you do not understand where and what to trade. As I mentioned, there are two main stock exchanges in India that offer to trade five days a week except for National Stock Exchange Holidays and Bombay Stock Exchange Holidays.

BSE – Bombay Stock Exchange

BSE was established in 1875, is Asia’s first & the Fastest Stock Exchange in the world. Bombay Stock Exchange is operating for the last 146 years since 1875 and facilitating the growth of the Indian corporate sector by proving it an efficient capital-rising platform. Popularly known as BSE, the organization was initially established as “The Native Share & Stock Brokers’ Association” in 1875. (source – bseindia.com)

NSE – National Stock Exchange

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) is the leading stock exchange in India and the fourth largest in the world by equity trading volume in 2015, according to the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE). It began operations in 1994 and is ranked as the largest stock exchange in India in terms of total and average daily turnover for equity shares every year since 1995, based on annual reports of SEBI. (source – nseindia.com)

Learn more about – Stock Exchanges in India

How Share Market Works?

Share Market works in the following manner:

• A company gets listed on Primary Market via an IPO
• Distribution happens of Shares between investors on Secondary Market
• Stocks get issued and trading begins on the Secondary Market
• Stock Brokers are the entities through investors and traders can buy/sell shares
• Brokers process the buy/sell orders on the stock exchange
• You get your desired share at a given price in your DEMAT account in T+2 days
• Settlement takes T+2 days to complete the transaction and transfer of shares between accounts

How to Invest in Share Market?

Invest in Share Market in India in 10 simple steps:

1. Get a PAN Card
2. Choose a Broker
3. Open a Demat / Trading Account
4. Make an Initial Deposit
5. Decide how much to Invest
6. Know Depository Participant
7. Know Stock Exchanges
8. Buying & Selling
9. Instrument Traded on Stock Market

Read more about – How to Invest in Share Market

Instruments Traded on Stock Market

As I told you earlier in this article that you can make an investment in different types of assets through a DEMAT Account, you can put in as much money as you want to.

Along with the Share Trading of listed companies, other instruments are also traded on Stock Exchanges. These instruments are:

• Equity
• Derivatives: Futures & Options, Foreign Indices
• Mutual Funds
• Currency Derivatives
• Fixed Deposits and Bonds
• Initial Public Offer (IPOs)
• Gold Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)

How Trader Makes Profit or Loss in the Share Market?

Assume that, you have bought some share(s) in a good company, and your Company A makes a profit. Thus, the value of your stock increases because the Company is now worth more than it was before it made a profit.

Now suppose that something happens to cause Company A to fumble a bit, and the reputation of the company falls, and profits cease, you now own a tiny portion of a company that is not doing well. Therefore, the value of your stock decreases because the net worth of the company itself is declining.

That is really all there is to understand the absolute basics of the stock market before entering. The trick, of course, is to know how to choose the right companies to invest in and when to buy the shares and when to sell them. Ideally, of course, you will buy when a company is relatively new and the cost of each share is low as well. Then, when you have chosen wisely, this new company invents a miraculous product or explodes on the scene with terrific service and makes a profit. Then, right before the company loses momentum in profits, you sell and make a profit from your shares.

Investing in Stock Market as Beginner

As a beginner investor, the process of trading and investing in the Share Market can seem a bit complicated & confusing. It requires you to open certain accounts and fulfill certain formalities before starting stock market investments.

If you are looking to invest in the share market, you don’t have to look any further but reading the following step-by-step guide by which you can start investing in the stock market in no time.

However, opening these accounts is not going to help you. You need to learn a lot about investing and trading in the stock market. For that you can learn to read on the internet, watching videos on YouTube, or joining a reputed institute.

I’ve already mentioned that investing in Stock Market can be confusing, especially for the beginner. Getting some Share Market Tips can help a beginning investor to make informed choices that fit their needs.

When it comes to Investing, each person has a different goal and that makes a big impact on how you Invest.

Best Share Market Tips

1. No Set of Rule
2. Make Informed Choices
3. Plan Your Goals
4. Value Pick
5. Growing Return
6. Build a Diversified Portfolio
7. Understand Price
8. Start Investing Today

Read more about – Share Market Tips

Share Market Timings

The general stock market trading time for the equity segment is between 09:15 am to 15:30 pm, Monday to Friday. If you are trading commodities at MCX, the Market Trading timing for MCX (commodity market) is between 10:00 am to 11:30 pm, Monday to Friday. The trading time for NCDEX (Agri-Community)is between 10:00 am to 05:00 pm, Monday to Friday. Read more about – Share Market Timings