Learn the stock market › Why does a stock move? › Lesson 1 of 9
What determines a stock's price?
One real day
Here is Sandvik on Nov 6, 2026.
| Sandvik | Nov 6, 2026 |
|---|---|
| Open | SEK 351.60 |
| High | SEK 360.30 |
| Low | SEK 349.80 |
| Close | SEK 357.40 |
| Shares traded | 1,892,326 |
| Change from the day before | −0.4% |
It opened at SEK 351.60, traded as low as SEK 349.80 and as high as SEK 360.30, and finished at SEK 357.40. The company was the same company all day. What changed was the price buyers and sellers would deal at.
1,892,326 shares changed hands, against about 1,791,000 on a normal day over the last quarter. Every share sold was bought by someone, so counted in shares, purchases and sales always match. What differs is how eager each side is.
How the price moves
Sellers say what they want and buyers say what they will pay. If buyers want the stock more than sellers want to keep it, they have to bid higher to get a deal, and the price rises. If more people want out at today's price, it goes the other way.
Why expectations matter most
A share is a small piece of a company, and its value lies in what the company will earn from here on. Nobody knows how much that will be, so every buyer and seller makes their own estimate. When something changes that estimate, the price they will accept changes too.
That is why a big profit can push a stock down if everyone expected an even bigger one. The gap to expectations is what counts, not the number alone.
How much the market pays for each krona of earnings is covered in the lesson on P/E ratios. Why a stock rises on some days and falls on others is the next lesson.
Test yourself
A company reports higher profit than last year, but its stock falls. How can that happen?
What happened next? How Sandvik has moved.