Investing term

What is Price discovery?

The process by which the market figures out what a stock is currently worth.

Price discovery is the ongoing process by which a market figures out what a security is worth, as countless buyers and sellers act on information and push the price up or down. It's why active, liquid markets are valuable — they aggregate everyone's knowledge into a single, constantly updating price. Big news triggers rapid price discovery as the market re-prices in real time.

For example

An earnings surprise sends traders scrambling to buy and sell until a new price settles — price discovery hammering out the stock's updated value.

Price discovery is taught hands-on in Stage 5How Markets Work Globally.

See the lesson →

Related terms

← Back to the full glossary