The objective of the article was to analyze the actions as an object of civil law regulation. The market contributes to the accumulation of capital and its transformation into investment resources for the financing of the productive and social spheres, which improves the general well-being of the population. Meanwhile, the legal nature of the shares has not yet been clearly defined in Russian law and there is, consequently, a dichotomy in the choice of ways to protect the owners of securities, including shares. For the development of the research, methods such as synthesis, theoretical analysis, abstraction, deduction, induction, classification, comparative law, refutation were used. Based on the legal acts that regulate the stock market, a comprehensive study of the problems of legal regulation of the rotation of shares is carried out, to determine the prospects for development and ways to improve the legal regulation of shares, as well as to look for ways to protect the rights of securities holders. Among the most significant results, the legal nature of the action was revealed, the meaning of categories such as: document, security and action was cleared, and the definition of action was formulated.