Glossary · Stocks and markets
Stock market
The stock market is where shares of companies are bought and sold: all the exchanges and trading systems where investors trade with each other.
Also called: equity market, share market, the market, stock markets
End of 2025. Next: China $15.5T, Japan $7.61T.
Average of daily closes, Oct 2026: +14.7% in 12 months.
In plain words
A farmers’ market brings together people who grow tomatoes and people who want them. The stock market does the same for pieces of companies: people who want to sell shares meet people who want to buy, and the price settles wherever the two sides agree.
It is not one building. “The stock market” means all the stock exchanges and electronic trading systems together. When the news says “the market rose 1% today”, it usually means a stock index such as the S&P 500 did.
The largest market is United States: its listed companies were worth $68.9T at the end of 2025. Next came China ($15.5T) and Japan ($7.61T).
Example
Where your money goes when you buy a share
- In an IPO a company sells 10 million new shares at $20. It raises $200 million to build factories or hire people.
- The next day you buy 100 of those shares at $22 on the exchange. Your $2,200 goes to another investor who sold, not to the company.
- A year later the company reports strong profits and the price is $30. You can sell your 100 shares for $3,000 to whoever wants them.
The company raised money once; after that, the market keeps telling everyone what its shares are worth, every second it is open.
One level deeper
Economists split it in two. The primary market is where companies sell new shares to raise money, in an IPO or in later share sales. The secondary market is where investors trade existing shares with each other. That is nearly all of the daily trading, and it is what makes shares easy to sell.
Prices move as buyers and sellers change their minds about companies’ future profits, about interest rates and about the economy. Over decades the market has followed company profits upward; over months it can swing far in both directions, through bull and bear markets.
Markets can grow and shrink dramatically. At the end of 1989, after a huge boom, Japan’s listed companies were worth $4.26T, more than America’s $3.38T. By the end of 2025, Japan’s market was worth $7.61T and America’s $68.9T.
The US, Japanese and Chinese stock markets since 1980
The value of each country’s listed companies at the end of every year, in US dollars. On a log scale, equal steps are equal percentage changes. Japan’s market passed America’s in the late-1980s boom and then shrank for years; China’s figures start in 2003.
The numbers behind the chart
| Date | United States | Japan | China |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | $1.36T | $379B | — |
| 1990 | $3.09T | $2.93T | — |
| 2000 | $15.1T | $3.16T | — |
| 2010 | $17.3T | $3.83T | $4.03T |
| 2020 | $41.6T | $6.72T | $12.3T |
| 2021 | $48.5T | $6.54T | $14.4T |
| 2022 | $40.3T | $5.38T | $11.5T |
| 2023 | $49T | $6.15T | $10.9T |
| 2024 | $62.2T | $6.31T | $11.8T |
| 2025 | $68.9T | $7.61T | $15.5T |
Why it matters
It lets companies raise money from millions of investors, and lets those investors sell whenever they want, which is why they are willing to invest in the first place.
It is where most retirement savings end up, directly or through funds.
Its prices are a running vote on the future: they often fall before a recession and recover before the economy does.
A common mistake
Myth: The stock market is the economy.
In fact: They are related but different. The market prices the future profits of listed companies, many of them earning abroad; the economy is everything produced at home, including the many firms that are not listed. The two can move in opposite directions for months, as in 2020, when stocks recovered while unemployment was still high.
Questions people ask
What is the largest stock market in the world?
By the value of its listed companies, United States: $68.9T at the end of 2025, followed by China ($15.5T) and Japan ($7.61T). Our stock market to GDP page compares every country.
What time is the US stock market open?
The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq trade from 9:30 am to 4 pm Eastern Time, Monday to Friday, except on holidays. Some trading happens before and after those hours, with fewer buyers and sellers.
Is the stock market the same as the S&P 500?
No. The S&P 500 is an index of about 500 large US companies, used as a quick reading of the whole US market. It covers most, but not all, of the value of US listed stocks, and none of the rest of the world.
Read more on BigCapital
About the numbers
- The numbers on this page are recalculated from the data every night; the sources are listed at the end of the page.
- Stock market capitalization (listed domestic companies): The World Bank: World Development Indicators: Market capitalization of listed domestic companies (current US$) (CM.MKT.LCAP.CD). Original source: World Federation of Exchanges database, World Federation of Exchanges (WFE).
- S&P Composite price and total return since 1871, and US consumer prices: Robert J. Shiller, Online Data (shillerdata.com); total return with dividends reinvested monthly, calculated by BigCapital.
- India is left out of the 2025 ranking: the World Bank puts its market at $10.6T, about twice what its exchanges themselves reported, apparently because companies listed on both of its big exchanges are counted twice.
- This page explains a term. It is not investment advice.