Law Articles
To search for a particular term please use the following search box.
Law Topics
Click on a Topic to see available articles for that topic.
- Accidents
- Administrative Law
- Admiralty Law
- Articles
- Banking
- Bankruptcy Law
- Canon Law
- Case Law
- Civil Law
- Civil Rights
- Class Action Lawsuits
- Commercial Law
- Common Law
- Comparative Law
- Constitutional Law
- Consumer Law
- Contracts
- Corporate Law
- Courts
- Criminal Law
- Cyber Law
- Dispute Resolution
- Employment Law
- Equity
- Evidence
- Family Law
- Fiduciary Law
- General Practice
- Government
- Health Law
- Immigration Law
- Insurance Law
- Intellectual Property
- International Law
- Jurisprudence
- Labor Law
- Law and Economics
- Maritime Law
- Military Law
- Natural Law
- Personal Injury Law
- Philosophy of Law
- Property Law
- Public Law
- Real Estate Law
- Social Security
- Space Law
- Statutory Law
- Tax Law
- Traffic Law
- Trusts and Estates
- Water Law
Return to Law Dictionary Index
Market Centers: Buying and Selling Stock
When you call your broker to buy or sell a stock – or hit "enter" when placing an order through your online brokerage account – that's only the beginning of the transaction. Your broker's firm must then send your order to a market center to be executed. This process of filling your order is known as "trade execution."
Exchange
An exchange is a marketplace where traders can buy or sell stocks and bonds. For a stock that's listed on an exchange, such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), your broker may direct the order to that exchange, to another exchange (such as a regional exchange), or to a firm called a "third market maker."
Market Maker
A "market maker" is a firm that stands ready to buy or sell a stock at publicly quoted prices. Market makers in exchange-listed stocks are known as "third market makers." Market makers in stocks that trade in over-the-counter (OTC) markets, such as the Nasdaq, are known as "Nasdaq market makers" or simply "market makers."
Electronic Communications Network (ECN)
An electronic communications network (ECN) is an electronic trading system that automatically matches buy and sell orders at specified prices.
Source: Securities and Exchange Commission