The World Stock Markets
Stock markets initially provided a platform for companies to sell shares in their company to private individuals. In exchange private individuals received dividends on the performance of their shares, in other words a return on their investment.
Traditionally, when the company makes a profit the shareholder at the discretion of the directors may receive a dividend, or bonus share issues.
However, more recently world markets have shown that fewer companies are issuing dividends, in many instances many high profile companies are posting losses on increasing revenues and borrowing while at the same time their share price is soaring.
Valuation of companies has shifted from profit making manufacturing companies to companies perceived at having “good prospects” for the future.
Most countries have a stock market index, which represents Public Listed Companies whose shares are traded.
The stock market indices of the most economically stable countries in the world achieve the most media focus, and in many instances they are used to judge the economic state of that country.
Logically so, since the performance and profitability of large organizations in terms of world trade (import-export), competitiveness, will be subject to areas of government intervention such as interest rate adjustments, currency exchange rates and rates of inflation.
This can be seen looking back at stock market performance in times of economic depression (stock market crashes) and stock market performance in times of economic prosperity (stock market boom).

What are shares?
Shares, as the name says, are shares in a limited company. Each shareholder is a part-owner of the company in which they have bought shares.
Shares in UK companies are traded on the London Stock Exchange. Investors can buy and sell their shares whenever they wish.
Shares, also called equities, are issued by companies on incorporation and later perhaps when they are building up a business. The original shareholders might still own them, or they may have sold them to someone else through the stock market.
If the company makes a profit, the shareholders normally have some of it passed to them. This is paid in the form of dividends.
The amount paid in dividends varies year by year, depending on how profitable the company has been and how much money the directors want to keep in reserve for future expansion.
There are different ways in which you can participate in the stock market:

Directly: by buying and selling shares;

Indirectly: through a collective vehicle, in which shares are grouped together, such as a unit trust or investment trust.

What is a market order?
When an investor wants to buy or sell stock at the current market price, a market order is placed. The price of stock is set by market makers, who quote both the buying (‘bid’) and the selling (‘offer/ask’).
An individual investor who wants to buy stock in a certain company will always buy at the ‘ask/offer price’ (high) and will always sell at the ‘bid price’. (Low) This is the case in standard dealing with a Stock Broker. With BSA we use our investor power and because the shares issues are new issue, we can negotiate a discount for our clients. This can mean on day of execution of the trade clients are often showing as much as a 30% paper profit
An investor will usually transact stock through his/her broker at the price determined by the market, paying transaction fees on both selling and buying of the stock.
A stockbroker is unable to offer any form of discount on any stock.  Transaction of stock can only be made with a broker designated to that particular exchange, e.g. NASDAQ stock can only be traded with a NASDAQ listed broker.  Fees usually range between 2%-5% on both buying and selling stock.
Stock orders can also be initiated online through the Internet.  In this case, the investor uses a trading account and places the order electronically with an online brokerage.  This is usually offered at highly discounted rates, e.g. US$50.00 on a trade of US$5,000.00 i.e. in the region of 1%.

Why an interest in shares?
Today, more than ten million people own shares, while many more belong to a pension scheme, have an insurance policy, an Isa, unit trust or another form of collective savings invested in shares traded on the London markets.

Pros and cons of shares?
Compared to saving with a bank or building society, investing in stocks and shares carries an element of risk because prices can go down as well as up. There is, however, the possibility of greater rewards. Funds invested in equities in the long term (ten or more years) have outperformed regular savings accounts.
Before investing in stocks and shares you must be clear about your own financial position and what you hope to achieve with your investments. Your regular financial commitments should be covered and provision made for unexpected expenses.
Having done this, you are ready to consider investing the surplus in stocks and shares.

How the stock market works?
The stock market is driven by supply and demand. The number of shares of stock dictates the supply and the number of shares that investors want to buy dictates the demand.  It's important to understand that for every share that is purchased, there is someone on the other end selling that share (or vice versa).  The stock market is really just a big, automated superstore where everyone goes to buy and sell their stock.  The main players in the stock market are the exchanges.  Exchanges are where the sellers are matched with buyers to both facilitate trading and to help set the price of the shares.  The primary exchanges (in the US) are the Nasdaq, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), all of the ECNs (electronic communication networks) and a few other regional exchanges like the American Stock Exchange and the Pacific Stock Exchange.  Years ago, all of the trading was done through the traditional exchanges (like the NYSE, American and Pacific Exchanges) but now almost all of the trading is done through the Nasdaq, which uses ECNs and thousands of other firms with access to the Nasdaq to facilitate trading.
Here's an example of one of the many ways that the stock market works:
You open an account with E*Trade. You send E*Trade a check for $1,000. E*Trade deposits the check into a trading account that is listed under your name. You log onto E*Trade and place an order to buy 100 shares of a stock in Company A, which is currently trading at $5. E*Trade uses it's network to tell the Nasdaq and all of it's related networks that there is demand for 100 shares of Company A's stock. The Nasdaq finds someone who is willing to sell 100 shares of Company A and, instantaneously, they execute the trading of stock between you and the person selling the shares. The trade information is sent to a clearinghouse where the information is processed and the shares will now be registered to you. Basically, the clearinghouse will designate 100 shares of Company A to E*Trade and E*Trade will designate those 100 shares as yours. The actual stock certificates are typically held "in street name" and never really need to exchange hands (although you could request that the stock certificates be transferred to your name).

In a nutshell, that's how the stock market works. The stock market is really just like any other marketplace - it facilitates the exchange of goods between interested parties and works to reduce distribution costs and set prices.
What BSA intends to facilitate is the identification of small cap companies with strong Management, Product and overall fundamentals to grow with our clients investment. The ideal is to therefore be involved ahead of the game, therefore enjoying potentially explosive returns. Fact: All large companies started somewhere – we aim to identify the next big thing, before everyone one knows about said Company and demand is sky high.

How are stocks valued?
Stocks have two types of valuations. One is a value created using some type of cash flow, sales or fundamental earnings analysis. The other value is dictated by how much an investor is willing to pay for a particular share of stock and by how much other investors are willing to sell a stock for (in other words, by supply and demand). Both of these values change over time as investors change the way they analyze stocks and as they become more or less confident in the future of stocks. Let me discuss both types of valuations.
First, the fundamental valuation. This is the valuation that people use to justify stock prices. The most common example of this type of valuation methodology is P/E ratio, which stands for Price to Earnings Ratio. This form of valuation is based on historic ratios and statistics and aims to assign value to a stock based on measurable attributes. This form of valuation is typically what drives long-term stock prices.
The other way stocks are valued is based on supply and demand. The more people that want to buy the stock, the higher its price will be. And conversely, the more people that want to sell the stock, the lower the price will be. This form of valuation is very hard to understand or predict, and is often drives the short-term stock market trends.