When companies complete the IPO stage its shares become public and can be traded with a broker on a stock market. Stock trading education will help you understand stock markets and its venues. Besides that, is the place where buyers and sellers of shares meet and decide on a price to trade. Also, some exchanges are physical locations where transactions are done out of a trading floor. However, nowadays the stock exchanges are virtual on networks where trades are made and recorded electronically. Similarly, traders can have ECN (Electronic Connection Network) accounts why any broker. Stock markets are the place where owners of shares can carry out transactions with buyers, well that was in the past. Nowadays stocks are traded almost instantly throughout ECN accounts where there is always a seller and always a buyer.
History of Stock Markets

The first stock markets in Europe appeared in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was mainly present in port cities or trading hubs like Amsterdam, and London. These forms of early stock exchanges, were more like bond exchanges because the small number of companies didn’t issue equity. Basically, all early companies were considered semi-public since they need special permission from governments in order to conduct business. New York Stock Exchange appeared in the late 18th century, which allowed for equity shares to be traded. Also, the first stock exchange in America was the Philadelphia Stock Exchange that exists and today.