Market Structure

Discover the fundamental purposes of financial markets: price discovery, liquidity provision, capital raising, and risk transfer.

Explore the different types of markets: forex, stocks, commodities, bonds, and derivatives—and how they differ.

Learn about the different players in financial markets: retail traders, institutions, market makers, and more.

Understand the role of individual traders in the market, their advantages, challenges, and how they compete.

Explore how banks, hedge funds, and other institutions trade and their impact on market movements.

Learn how market makers provide liquidity, quote prices, and profit from the bid-ask spread.

Understand the entities that supply liquidity to markets and why they're essential for smooth trading.

Distinguish between where securities are first issued (primary) and where they're traded (secondary).

Learn how market prices are determined through the interaction of supply, demand, and information.

Understand the difference between buy and sell prices, what affects spreads, and their impact on trading costs.

Explore order books and how market depth reveals the supply and demand at different price levels.

Learn why orders sometimes execute at different prices than expected and how to minimize slippage.

Understand why execution speed matters, factors that affect it, and how brokers differ in performance.

Learn how dealing desk (market maker) brokers operate, their pros/cons, and potential conflicts of interest.

Understand Straight-Through Processing brokers, how they route orders, and why traders prefer them.

Discover how ECNs connect traders directly, offering transparent pricing and tight spreads.