the stock market, who am I “selling” to?

Question

I understand but I don’t. When I “sell” stocks, who am I selling to exactly? The people who are buying in that exact moment? The exchange institution? Same when I’m “buying”.

In: Economics

Answer 1

It’s the general public, but mainly folks who work on Wall Street.

Brokers technically do the buying and selling but they’re facilitating transactions for:

• Banks

• Hedge funds

• Insurance companies

• Pension funds, 401k managers, IRA managers and mutual funds

• Accredited investors

• Regular people or ‘retail investors’

• Foreign investors