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

I think, nowadays, it is sold or bought via a “dark pool” and does not go to an exchange. Google “stock market dark pools”.

The dark pool is essentially a middleman who might only hold the stock for a few seconds or longer.

Before dark pools, I think it was usually to another trader (who accepted the offer) or to something called a “market maker”. Again, these are middlemen who will hold it for a short while.