ELI5: Why did the stock market drop today

The stock market dropped today because more people wanted to sell their shares of company ownership than wanted to buy them.

Imagine the stock market is like a big playground where kids buy and sell trading cards. Each card is like a share of a company. Now, let's say everyone suddenly gets worried that the most popular card, the "Super Robot" card, isn't as awesome as they thought. Maybe they heard the Super Robot card company is having trouble making new cards.

• Selling Frenzy: Because they are worried, a lot of kids want to sell their Super Robot cards quickly before the value goes down even more.
• Fewer Buyers: But because everyone thinks the Super Robot card isn't so great anymore, fewer kids want to buy it.

• Bad News: Sometimes, the "bad news" is a big announcement that a company isn't doing well.
• Economic Worries: Other times, people are worried about the whole playground – maybe they think fewer kids will have allowance money to buy cards, so all card values might go down.
• Domino Effect: When one big "card" (company) goes down, it can scare people and make them sell other "cards" too, making the whole market drop.