Inside the machine that sets stock prices

How the market machine runs

Most people imagine the stock market as a buzzing floor of traders yelling into phones.

That’s history.

Today, the stock market is a high-speed machine built entirely on code.

Every time you click “buy” or “sell,” your order doesn’t float around waiting to be noticed.

It enters a matching engine designed to pair buyers and sellers in milliseconds.

Prices aren’t set by opinions or forecasts.

They move because thousands of orders hit the system every second, constantly updating supply and demand.

Hedge funds, banks, algorithms, and retail investors all line up in the same queue.

The exchange takes those inputs and turns them into a new price in real time.

This is where liquidity matters.

When plenty of buyers and sellers are active, trades execute fast and spreads stay tight.

When liquidity dries up, prices jump, volatility spikes, and even simple trades become expensive.

Understanding this machine changes how you read price moves.

Once you see what’s happening behind the screen, market noise starts to make sense.

Now it’s time to watch the engine in action.