Hallycon Academy

Course 6 · Next step

How markets work

Exchanges, buyers and sellers, prices, orders, crashes and recoveries, and why markets around the world move together.

  • 7 lessons
  • 49 min
  • Free
  • A certificate when you finish

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Who it is for

For anyone who has never bought a share and wants to understand what happens on a stock exchange before they put money in.

The lessons

Each lesson has a short video, a quiz and links to learn more. The full lessons open after a free sign-in.

  1. Lesson 1: What a market is

    7 min

    Buyers and sellers agree a price. The weekly market and the stock exchange follow the same idea.

    Key points

    • A price is where a buyer and a seller agree.
    • More buyers than sellers pushes the price up, and the reverse.
    • A share price is what the last buyer paid, not a sure measure of what the company is worth.

  2. Lesson 2: Stock exchanges and who trades there

    7 min

    Euronext, Frankfurt, SIX and the big exchanges abroad. Why companies list their shares, and why you buy from another investor, not the company.

    Key points

    • Euronext runs the exchanges of Brussels, Amsterdam and Paris; German shares trade on Xetra in Frankfurt, Swiss shares on SIX in Zurich.
    • A company sells new shares once, when it lists; after that, investors trade with each other.
    • Pension funds, insurers and funds do most of the trading; private savers are a small part.

  3. Lesson 3: Brokers, banks, custodians and regulators

    7 min

    Who stands between you and the market, who holds your shares, and who watches over all of them.

    Key points

    • You buy through a bank or broker; a custodian holds your shares apart from the firm's own money.
    • National regulators (FSMA, BaFin, AMF, AFM, FINMA) license firms; ESMA coordinates across the EU.
    • Check any firm in your regulator's register before you open an account.

  4. Lesson 4: Why prices move

    7 min

    Results, interest rates, news and mood. Why short-term moves are mostly noise, and what has driven prices over long periods.

    Key points

    • Over days, prices move on news, rumours and mood.
    • Over many years, share prices have tended to follow company profits and interest rates: history, not a promise.
    • Nobody predicts short-term moves reliably, professionals included.

  5. Lesson 5: Orders, spreads and liquidity

    7 min

    Buying and selling in plain words: market and limit orders, bid and ask, and why some things are easy to sell and others aren't.

    Key points

    • A market order buys at the best price now; a limit order sets the most you'll pay (or the least you'll accept).
    • The gap between the buying and selling price, the spread, is a cost you pay every time.
    • Liquidity means you can sell quickly at a fair price; small shares, some bonds and property can be hard to sell.

  6. Lesson 6: Bull, bear, crash and recovery

    7 min

    Markets rise and fall in long waves. What history shows about crashes and recoveries, and why to plan for falls before they come.

    Key points

    • A "bear market" is a fall of 20% or more; smaller falls of 10% or more come more often.
    • Big falls came in 1987, 2000–02, 2008, 2020 and 2022; broad markets recovered in the past, sometimes only after many years, with no guarantee.
    • Decide what you'll do in a fall while markets are calm.

  7. Lesson 7: How markets around the world are tied together

    7 min

    Asia opens, Europe follows, then New York. Why a fall in one market often spreads, and why big "local" companies are really global.

    Key points

    • Trading follows the sun: Tokyo, then Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Zurich, then New York.
    • In a crisis markets tend to fall together, so spreading across countries helps less on the worst days.
    • Many large European companies earn most of their money abroad, so home indexes are global too.

What’s inside

  • Short videos: About two minutes for each lesson
  • Quizzes: Three questions after each lesson
  • Calculators: Inflation, compound interest, an emergency fund and fees
  • Certificate: For every course you complete

The full lessons, videos and quizzes open after a free sign-in: your name, email, mobile number and a PIN. No card, no obligation.

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General financial education. Hallycon Academy does not manage money, sell investment products or give personal advice. Examples in the lessons promise no return.

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