What is Price Discovery?

Welcome to the Investors Trading Academy talking glossary of financial terms and events.
Our word of the day is “Price Discovery”
In its simplest form, the constant interaction of buyers and sellers enables a price to emerge over time. It is often difficult to appreciate this process because the retail prices of most manufactured goods are set by the seller. The buyer either accepts the price. or does not make the purchase. While an individual consumer in a shopping mall might haggle over the price, this is unlikely to work, and they will believe they have no influence over price.
However, if all potential buyers haggled, and none accepted the set price, then the seller would be quick to reduce price. In this way, collectively, buyers have influence over market price. Eventually a price is found which enables an exchange to take place. A rational seller would take this a step further, and gather as much market information as possible in an attempt to set a price which achieves a given number of sales at the outset. For markets to work, an effective flow of information between buyer and seller is essential.

By Barry Norman, Investors Trading Academy - ITA