If there are more buy orders than sell orders, the prices have to keep rising to attract someone to sell who would not be willing to sell for the last sell price. I more sellers than buyers are trying to unload their stock, then sellers can ask for higher prices and people eager to sell will sell at whatever they can get.

A large price change is usually due to an announcement such as a good or bad earnings report, or it could be that some analyst changes his rating from hold to strong buy or vice versa.

Stock prices fluctuate through the day because of buyers and sellers. Sometimes there are articles that come out about a company and that can push a person to either buy or sell a stock. Also news about the competition doing well or having an advantage over competitors can affect the stocks.

There has also been high-speed insider trading that has been happening that can also contribute to the fluctuation of stocks.

Stock prices aren't going to stay the same when there are so many people buying and selling a stock at different prices.

The prices change because there are buyers and sellers that are willing to buy or sell their shares at higher or lower prices during the course of the day. The stock market matches those folks that are willing to sell shares at prices someone is willing to buy

I'm trying to learn more about the stock market and investing in it.

I know things like supply/demand, profits/losses announcements, acquisitions, and changes in laws/regulations are all factors which determine stock prices. However, I'm confused why the prices change throughout the day, why do they continuously go up and down and don't just stay level for a while? Are the aforementioned factors are always changing? I'm mainly referring to the minute changes in stock prices.

Thanks in advance