The stock exchange as a market place for buyers and sellers
A stock exchange is a facility that brings together buyers and sellers of securities. These are instruments with a uniform structure and denomination that are suitable for large-scale trading. Shares, bonds, fund units and derivatives are examples of securities. If the stock exchange did not exist, buyers and sellers would have to negotiate with each other, which would require a great deal of outlay for research and information. Moreover, SIX coordinates interests between bodies that demand a large amount of capital in the long term – generally companies or the State – and investors offering low sums in the relatively short term. This enables private and institutional investors to buy and sell securities on the stock exchange at any time without having a direct impact on the company concerned. In such instances, the stock exchange is known as a secondary market. Secondary means that it is no longer the companies themselves that are looking for capital but investors who trade in securities, similar to a second-hand purchase.