by Ted Butler, Silver Seek:

In every investment asset, a key factor in determining the price is the amount of investment buying, either potentially or already existing versus the amount of the asset itself that exists to be invested in. Expressed differently, price is determined by total market capitalization  (the total current amount of what the asset is worth), plus or minus future buying or selling.

For example, the truly large investment markets, like stocks, have a total market capitalization of many tens of trillions of dollars, with some individual stocks having a total market cap or worth of more than a trillion dollars at current prices. The future value is based upon many factors, like future earnings, as well as external factors, like the future path of interest rates, money supply, economic conditions and investor sentiment and flows, etc.