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New issues of securities, including what is commonly known as an IPO, or Initial Public Offering, for new stock issues, are offered on the primary market. Securities that have already been issued may also be traded; this trading is called the aftermarket or secondary market. Secondary markets often consist of what is called an exchange to facilitate the meeting of buyers and sellers. They are often referred to as a stock exchanges, even though there are exchanges such as the Chicago Board of Options Exchange where no stocks are traded.

In the United States, the offer and sale of securities is either registered pursuant to a registration statement that is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or are offered and sold pursuant to an exemption therefrom. Dealing in securities is heavily regulated by both the federal authorities (chiefly SEC) and state authorities. In addition the industry is heavily self policed by Self Regulatory Organizations (SRO's), such as the NASD or the MSRB.

1 Regulatory

Due to the difficulty of creating a general definition that covers all securities, the SEC attempts to define "securities" exhaustively (and not very precisely) as: "any note, stock, treasury stock, security future , bond, debentureA debenture in finance, is a long term debt instrument used by governments and large companies to obtain funds. It is similar to a bond except the securitization conditions are different. A debenture is unsecured in the sense that there are no liens or pl, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement or in any oil, gas, or other mineral royalty or lease, any collateral-trust certificate , preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable share , investment contract , voting-trust certificate , certificate of depositA certificate of deposit or CD is, in the United States, a familiar financial product, commonly offered to consumers by banks, thrift institutions, and credit unions. Such CDs are similar to savings accounts in being insured—by the FDIC for banks or by th for a security, any put, callIn computer science and telecommunications, calling is: # Any attempt to set up a communications circuit. A unit of traffic measurement. The actions performed by a call originator. The operations required to establish, maintain, and release a connection., straddleTo straddle is to sit, stand or walk with the legs spread wide. The expression is used by writer John Berger when he mentions: when an artist works, he straddles time . In finance, a straddle is an investment strategy involving the purchase or sale of par, optionIn finance, an option is a contract whereby the contract buyer has a right to exercise a feature of the contract (the option) at future date (the exercise date), and the seller has the obligation to deliver the specified feature of the contract. Since the, or privilege on any security, certificate of depositA certificate of deposit or CD is, in the United States, a familiar financial product, commonly offered to consumers by banks, thrift institutions, and credit unions. Such CDs are similar to savings accounts in being insured—by the FDIC for banks or by th, or group or index of securities (including any interest therein or based on the value thereof), or any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege entered into on a national securities exchange relating to foreign currency , or in general, any instrument commonly known as a "security"; or any certificate of interest or participation in, temporary or interim certificate for, receipt for, or warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any of the foregoing; but shall not include currency or any note, draft, bill of exchange , or banker's acceptance which has a maturity at the time of issuance of not exceeding nine months, exclusive of days of grace, or any renewal thereof the maturity of which is likewise limited." - Section 3a item 10 of the 1934 Act.