Myth
A cheap share price means a cheap company
Price is per slice, and companies choose how many slices exist. Compare market capitalisation and earnings instead.
Start from zero
Stock market basics
No tips, no tickers, no hype. Just how the machine works — who matches your order, where your shares are recorded, what the price is really telling you, and the words people use as if you already know them.
Read these in order
Eight short guides that take you from “what is a share” to placing an order without getting robbed. About forty minutes in total.
- 1
What you actually own when you buy a share
Not a loan. Not a savings account. A slice of a company, with everything good and bad that comes with it.
4 min - 2
Stock market basics: who does what, and where your money goes
Exchange, broker, custodian, registrar — the plumbing behind a single share purchase.
6 min - 3
How an IPO actually works, step by step
From offer document to the day the shares start trading — in the order it really happens.
5 min - 4
How to read a share price without being fooled by it
Why a ₦20 share can be expensive and a ₦2,000 share can be cheap.
5 min - 5
Dividends: getting paid for holding
Where the cash actually comes from, and why a huge yield is often a warning.
4 min - 6
Index funds and ETFs: owning everything instead of picking
The lazy option that beats most people who try harder.
5 min - 7
How much to put in, and what you do when it drops
The decision people get wrong is not which share. It is how much, and what they do next.
5 min - 8
How offer scams work, and how to not lose your money
Every big listing brings out people selling access to something they do not have.
4 min
Six things people get wrong
Myth
The exchange sells you the shares
It only matches buyers and sellers. Your licensed broker places the order.
Myth
You need a lot of money to start
Most markets let you start with a very small amount. The Dangote offer's minimum, for example, is 10 shares.
Myth
If it fell a lot, it must be due a bounce
Businesses fall for reasons. A past price is not a floor.
Myth
Dividends are guaranteed income
A company can cut or skip a dividend in any year, and often does when trading is poor.
Myth
Someone with inside information can get you in early
That pitch is the most common shape investment fraud takes. Legitimate offers are public and documented.
The words, in plain English
- Share (stock, equity)
- One slice of ownership in a company.
- Market capitalisation
- Share price multiplied by the number of shares — what the market says the whole company is worth.
- Broker / dealing member
- The licensed firm that places your order on the exchange.
- CSCS / depository
- The electronic register that records who owns which shares. In Nigeria that is CSCS Plc.
- CHN
- Clearing House Number — the unique code identifying you in the Nigerian capital market.
- Registrar
- The company that keeps the shareholder register and pays dividends.
- Bid / ask
- The best price a buyer will pay and the lowest a seller will accept.
- Spread
- The gap between bid and ask. A real cost of trading.
- Market order
- Buy or sell immediately at whatever the going price is.
- Limit order
- Buy or sell only at your stated price or better.
- Liquidity
- How easily you can buy or sell without moving the price.
- Volume
- How many shares changed hands in a period.
- Dividend
- A share of company profit paid out to shareholders. Never guaranteed.
- Yield
- Annual dividend as a percentage of the share price.
- P/E ratio
- Share price divided by earnings per share. Roughly, years of profit you are paying up front.
- Index
- A basket of listed companies tracked as one number, like the NGX All-Share.
- ETF / index fund
- A fund holding many companies at once, usually tracking an index.
- IPO
- Initial public offering — the first time a company sells shares to the public.
- Prospectus / offer document
- The regulator-approved document setting out the terms and risks of an offer.
- Receiving agent
- A bank, broker or app authorised to collect subscriptions for an offer.
- Allotment
- How many shares you are actually given when an offer is oversubscribed.
- Settlement (T+1, T+2)
- The one or two business days it takes for cash and ownership to change hands after a trade.
- Rights issue
- An existing company offering more shares, usually first to current shareholders.
- Bull / bear market
- A sustained rise or a sustained fall in prices.
- Volatility
- How sharply prices move up and down.
- REIT
- A listed company that owns income-producing property and distributes most of its income.
When you are ready to act
Education, not advice
Swagga MONEY is journalism and education. SwaggaLIVE is not a broker, a dealer or a financial adviser, does not sell shares, does not take orders and does not receive commission on anything covered here. Confirm every figure and every channel against the official offer document, the exchange and your national regulator before you move money. Investing carries the risk of losing what you put in.
