It's daunting enough to see the ticker tape. That's the scrolling tape-like image with symbols like DJI 58.92(0.53%) that are usually colored green with an up-arrow or red with a down-arrow that you see running on your TV screen in business channels or in some business-related web pages.

While it would take a lot of time to fully understand all that needs to be learned regarding stocks investment, this article will strive to wipe out the initial questions one has when the term stock market comes to mind.

First, let us define what a stock is. It would be fair to say that stock, which is also known as equity, refers to a share in the ownership of a company. This would include the company's assets and earnings. The more shares one owns, the greater is his stake in a company.

Now, let us assume that somebody put up a company, it made good, and he's now looking to expand his facilities. He might be needing additional capital to pursue a breakthrough product that he just discovered and wants to develop. One solution: sell shares to investors to raise the cash he will need.

This is where the stock market enters into the picture. It is where he'll want to sell his stock. In a nutshell, the stock market is just one highly sophisticated market place where people buy and sell stocks. This market does not require you, the buyer or the seller, to be physically present.

Most people avail of the services of a stock broker, one who is more knowledgeable of the current trends in this market, who takes charge of the buying or selling. This is usually done in stock exchanges such as NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) or other stock exchanges.

Once you know which stocks your money was invested on and you know what symbol represents it (e.g. DJI), you can monitor the performance of your stocks via the ticker tape or on the graphs. If the quantity or the graph is going up, that's good news. That means your stocks investment is gaining. But if the quantity is going down or the graph is going down, you should be wary as that means your stocks investment is losing and you might consider divesting from that stock.

You don't have to sell immediately when the numbers go down because that is completely normal. It may go up later after some time or it may not.

It may now appear to you that stocks investment is a glorified gambling venture. In a way, it is, since we don't have total control of the business in this case. There are ways, however, to reduce the unpredictability of it all.

Most of the time, especially if your stocks investment lands in the securitized stock exchanges like NYSE or NASDAQ, it would help to research and know more about the company you are interested in investing in.