this may sound dumb but why does a stock open at a different price than it closed at.  who or how is the opening price determined.  it seems like if something closed at a point it would open up at the same spot and go on from there.

I do know that there are stocks that trade on foreign exchanges. Plus I'm sure that there are buy and sell orders which are executed right at the opennig bell.

going down

I agree with your thinking that a stock should open at the same price it closed at, but it does not work that way!  But it is also understandable that the price does change because things do happen between 4:00 p.m. and 9:30 a.m. that affect a stock's price.

if the market is CLOSED at 4 then what can be happening til opening to make the price start at a different price than where it closed.

The first trade of the day determines the opening price. If nobody is willing to buy or sell at the previous days close then the opening price will be different.

There are after hours trading.  A stock may close at one price.  Then 30 minutes later it goes for another trading.  There is also pretrading numbers.  It's not illogical but...

great question i do know a few have overnight trading the others i dont know why

Dr Zira:

The first trade of the day determines the opening price. If nobody is willing to buy or sell at the previous days close then the opening price will be different.

Are you sure that's what it is? I thought the price differed because of stocks trading in after hours. The orders in the morning would change prices immediately since the demand would differ... right? 

After hours trading

going down

see, now ya know 

I don't think it is just after hours trading.  But business does not just happen between 9:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. EST.  When the stock market closes for the day, it is only 1:00 p.m. on the west coast.  Do the west coast business close then and wait until the next morning to open again, NO!  And what if the Board of Directors of a company decide to get together for a dinner meeting one evening and decide some major change for the company and then word leaks out about it before 9:30 a.m. EST, that may affect the price of their stock when their business is plastered all over the morning news starting at 5:00 a.m.