In the stock market,for someone to make money, does that mean someone has to lose money?

Question

When I am buy stock at a lower price point than it was trading a 1 day or week, month or year later, does it mean that somebody during that same time frame is losing the difference?

In: Economics

Answer 1

Overall your thought process is correct. However the answer is “not necessary”. For example, someone might have bought it a year ago even lower than you are buying now, so they actually are profitable.