re: Question about how stocks work?

Stock prices go when people are willing to pay more for a stock than the current price. It's a very simple bartering system. We use the term supply and demand meaning that if the supply is lower than the demand people will pay more for it than it's worth. That is why stock prices go up or down. If people really want to sell it then they are willing to sell it for less than it's worth. That's why a stock price goes down.

The amount of stocks are normally unchanged, unless a company issues more stock. People will put in an order to buy or sell. The seller holds onto the stock until they are sold. So I can put in a sell order at $10 but I own them until someone says they are willing to buy at that same price. If no one is willing to buy I may drop my price to $9.90 and then maybe someone is willing. That is how we track prices of stocks.