The stock market exists at the intersection of a few academic subjects.
One is economics. This is a social science, like psychology, and deals with human beings, and why they act the way they do: why prices go up and down, the effect of regulation and policy, supply and demand, etc. Economics is the bedrock underlying any market because ultimately, markets are made up of people. It's sort of like how math underlies all of programming -- you don't often use it directly, but it's the intellectual foundation of all market behavior.
To learn economics, get a basic micro textbook or listen to Russ Roberts' EconTalk. It's an outstanding scholarly podcast once/week with a huge range of topics including environmental regulation, financial market behavior, food and cuisine, and the effect of law on public welfare.
The second major discipline is finance. In a nutshell, finance is all about trading flows of money, and how that's priced: if you promise to pay me tomorrow, how much should I pay you today? What is a 10% interest in a company worth? Part of finance is "corporate finance", which is "I have a company, how should I fund it" and the other part is "financial economics", which deals with markets for stocks/derivatives/options etc. and how they're priced and traded. Finance is built on economics, because the whole reason financial markets exist is to facilitate the reorganization of money/capital to better align with peoples' preferences: saving vs. spending, borrowing vs. investing, etc.
The third major discipline is business management/analysis. You'll learn this if you work anywhere for a while: how companies operate, why people are hired/fired, etc.
Mostly, just take it in a little at a time, be curious, and pay attention to the markets. Read the news. For instance, there's a lot of discussion about what the Fed will do, raise vs. lower rates. Why does this matter? How will it affect output (how much is produced), securities prices, and firms decision to invest (build stuff) vs hold cash? What will the effect on the housing market be? Will mortgage rates go up or down? Try to fit this into a conceptual model of how the world works, and refine it over time.
EDIT: Accounting, especially tax, is also important. Accounting is the basic language of business. If you want to understand the words people on TV/news are using, like "non-GAAP" or "gross margin" or "restatement", learn a bit of accounting.
This is the best answer. You have to know the factors influencing the market. If you are strong in at least some subjets you can spot the opportunities. If you know about economy, you could benefit when the economy is growing and it could benefit almost all companies. If you know economy is weak, you can short, just as an example. Other factors like market, management, managers, consumer behavior, govt policies, foreiegn policy, technology, raw material, rent, trading laws, stock exchanges, accounting etc. will help. Read business magazines and dailies but dont believe everything. But whatever you do, there is chance of failure. So if you are in market read Fooled by randomness and Black Swan. Investing rules from the masters say there is really no rules. You can be daytrader, long-term investor, options and futures, stock picker, index trader, etc. Actually, each style suits personality.
One is economics. This is a social science, like psychology, and deals with human beings, and why they act the way they do: why prices go up and down, the effect of regulation and policy, supply and demand, etc. Economics is the bedrock underlying any market because ultimately, markets are made up of people. It's sort of like how math underlies all of programming -- you don't often use it directly, but it's the intellectual foundation of all market behavior.
To learn economics, get a basic micro textbook or listen to Russ Roberts' EconTalk. It's an outstanding scholarly podcast once/week with a huge range of topics including environmental regulation, financial market behavior, food and cuisine, and the effect of law on public welfare.
The second major discipline is finance. In a nutshell, finance is all about trading flows of money, and how that's priced: if you promise to pay me tomorrow, how much should I pay you today? What is a 10% interest in a company worth? Part of finance is "corporate finance", which is "I have a company, how should I fund it" and the other part is "financial economics", which deals with markets for stocks/derivatives/options etc. and how they're priced and traded. Finance is built on economics, because the whole reason financial markets exist is to facilitate the reorganization of money/capital to better align with peoples' preferences: saving vs. spending, borrowing vs. investing, etc.
The third major discipline is business management/analysis. You'll learn this if you work anywhere for a while: how companies operate, why people are hired/fired, etc.
Mostly, just take it in a little at a time, be curious, and pay attention to the markets. Read the news. For instance, there's a lot of discussion about what the Fed will do, raise vs. lower rates. Why does this matter? How will it affect output (how much is produced), securities prices, and firms decision to invest (build stuff) vs hold cash? What will the effect on the housing market be? Will mortgage rates go up or down? Try to fit this into a conceptual model of how the world works, and refine it over time.
EDIT: Accounting, especially tax, is also important. Accounting is the basic language of business. If you want to understand the words people on TV/news are using, like "non-GAAP" or "gross margin" or "restatement", learn a bit of accounting.