# How Market Works

The auction process is the fundamental method through which buyers and sellers interact in the financial markets. Here's how it works:

1. **Pre-opening Phase**: Before the market officially opens, traders place their orders. However, no trades are executed during this period. Traders can input, modify, or cancel orders.
2. **Price Discovery Process**: The exchange uses the orders received during pre-opening to determine the opening price. The aim is to find a price that would cause the greatest number of shares to change hands.
3. **Opening**: The market officially opens, and the opening price is established. The trading session begins, and orders are executed at the opening price.
4. **Continuous Trading**: It enters the continuous trading phase after the market opens. Buyers and sellers continuously place orders, and trades are executed instantly if matching orders (in terms of price) are found.
5. **Closing Auction**: As the market nears closing time, a similar process to the opening occurs. Orders are collected, and a closing price is determined using the same price discovery process.
6. **Post-close**: Traders can still place orders for the next day's trading session after the market closes. However, no trades are executed in this period.