What IS Stock Market:-

A stock market or equity market is the aggregation of sellers and buyers of shares(stocks) these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.

What Is Stock exchanges:-

A stock exchange is a place to trade stocks. Companies may want to get their stock listed on a stock exchange. Other stocks may be traded "over the counter", that is, through a dealer. A large company will usually have its stock listed on many exchanges across the world.

Market participants include individual retail investors and traders, institutional investors such as banks, insurance companies mutual funds, and hedge funds, and also publicly traded corporations trading in their own shares. Some studies have suggested that institutional investors and corporations trading in their own shares generally receive higher risk-adjusted returns than retail investors.