How Does the Stock Market Work?----Oliver Elfenbaum

In the 1600s, the Dutch East India Company employed hundreds of ships to trade gold, porcelain, spices, and silks around the globe. But running this massive operation wasn’t cheap. In order to fund their expensive voyages, the company turned to private citizens – individuals who could invest money to support the trip in exchange for a share of the ship’s profits. This practice allowed the company to afford even grander voyages, increasing profits for both themselves and their savvy investors. Selling these shares in coffee houses and shipping ports across the continent, the Dutch East India Company unknowingly invented the world’s first stock market.

1600年，荷兰东印度公司雇佣了大量的船只在世界范围内去进行黄金，瓷器，香料和丝绸的交易。但是运转这个庞大的交易并不便宜。为了投入资金支持他们昂贵的远航，这个公司求助于普通公民，这些人能够投资来支持这家公司以换取一部分这家公司的收益。这个实践使得他们能够支付得起更宏伟的航行，增加了他们自身以及他们精明的投资人的利润。荷兰东印度公司(Dutch East India Company)在欧洲各地的咖啡馆和船运港口出售这些股票，无意中创造了全球第一个股票市场。

Since then, companies have been collecting funds from willing investors to support all kinds of businesses. And today, the stock market has schools, careers, and even whole television channels dedicated to understanding it. But the modern stock market is significantly more complicated than its original incarnation. So, how do companies and investors use the market today?

从那以后，公司开始不断从意向投资人那里筹集资金来支持他们各种各样的业务。现如今，股票市场拥有学校，企业甚至是整个电视渠道都致力于了解它。但是现代的股市比它最初的形态要复杂得多。因此，公司和投资人现今是如何利用这个市场的呢？

Let’s imagine a new coffee company that decides to launch on the market. First, the company will advertise itself to big investors. If they think the company is a good idea, they get the first crack at investing, and then sponsor the company’s initial public offering, or IPO. This launches the company onto the official public market, where any company or individual who believes the business could be profitable might buy a stock. Buying stocks makes those investors partial owners in the business. Their investment helps the company to grow, and as it becomes more successful, more buyers may see potential and start buying stocks. As demand for those stocks increases, so does their price, increasing the cost for prospective buyers, and raising the value of the company’s stocks people already own.

让我们想象一家新的咖啡公司，它决定上市。首先，这家公司将会把它自己广告给大的投资人。如果他们认为这家公司是一个好的主意，他们就会首先尝试投资，然后赞助这家公司的首次公开发行(IPO)。这将公司推向了官方的公开市场，在那里，任何公司或个人只要相信公司能够盈利，都可以购买股票。购买股票使这些投资者成为企业的部分所有者.他们的投资帮助公司成长，随着公司变得更加成功，可能会有更多的买家看到潜力，开始购买股票。随着对这些股票的需求增加，它们的价格也会上涨，从而增加潜在买家的成本，并提高人们已经持有的公司股票的价值。(ps格雷厄姆价值投资理论)

For the company, this increased interest helps fund new initiatives, and also boosts its overall market value by showing how many people are willing to invest in their idea. However, if for some reason a company starts to seem less profitable, the reverse can also happen. If investors think their stock value is going to decline, they’ll sell their stocks with the hopes of making a profit before the company loses more value. As stocks are sold and demand for the stock goes down, the stock price falls, and with it, the company’s market value. This can leave investors with big losses – unless the company starts to look profitable again.

对该公司来说，这种兴趣的增加有助于为新计划提供资金，而且通过显示有多少人愿意投资于他们的想法，也提高了公司的整体市场价值。然而，如果由于某种原因，一家公司的盈利能力开始下降，也可能出现相反的情况。如果投资者认为他们的股票价值会下降，他们就会卖掉他们的股票，他们希望在公司失去更多价值之前盈利。当股票被卖出，对股票的需求下降，股票价格下降，公司的市值也随之下降。这可能给投资者带来巨大损失——除非该公司重新开始盈利。

This seesaw of supply and demand is influenced by many factors. Companies are under the unavoidable influence of market forces – such as the fluctuating price of materials, changes in production technology, and the shifting costs of labor. Investors may be worried about changes in leadership, bad publicity, or larger factors like new laws and trade policies. And of course, plenty of investors are simply ready to sell valuable stocks and pursue personal interests. All these variables cause day-to-day noise in the market, which can make companies appear more or less successful. And in the stock market, appearing to lose value often leads to losing investors, and in turn, losing actual value.

供需的波动受到很多因素的影响。企业不可避免地处于市场作用的影响下，例如物价水平的波动，生产技术的改变以及人力成本的变化。投资者可能会担心领导层的变动、负面宣传，或者更大的因素，比如新法律和贸易政策。当然，许多投资者只是准备卖掉有价值的股票，追求个人利益。所有这些变量都会造成市场上每天的噪音，这可能会让公司看起来或多或少成功。在股票市场上，看似贬值往往会导致投资者的流失，进而导致实际价值的损失。

Human confidence in the market has the power to trigger everything from economic booms to financial crises. And this difficult-to-track variable is why most professionals promote reliable long-term investing over trying to make quick cash. However, experts are constantly building tools in efforts to increase their chances of success in this highly unpredictable system. 

人类对市场的自信能够触发使经济从繁荣到金融危机的一切事件。这种难以追踪的变量是为什么大多数的专家提倡可靠的长期投资而不是赚快钱。然而，专家在不断地努力开发新的工具来增加他们在这个不可预测系统中的成功机会。

But the stock market is not just for the rich and powerful. With the dawn of the Internet, everyday investors can buy stocks in many of the exact same ways a large investor would. And as more people educate themselves about this complex system, they too can trade stocks, support the businesses they believe in, and pursue their financial goals. The first step is getting invested.

但是股票市场不仅仅是富人和有权势的人独有的。随着互联网的出现，每天的投资者都能以与大投资者完全相同的方式购买股票。随着越来越多的人了解这个复杂的系统，他们也可以交易股票，支持他们相信的企业，并追求他们的财务目标。第一步是投资。