Investor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Swedish investment company, see Investor AB.

Financial market
participants
Finance series

Collective investment schemes Credit unions Insurance companies Investment banks Pension funds Prime brokers Trusts
Financial market Participants Corporate finance Personal finance Public finance Banks and banking Financial regulation
v t e

An investor is a person who allocates capital with the expectation of a financial return. The types of investments include: gambling and speculation, equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, derivatives such as put and call options, etc. This definition makes no distinction between those in the primary and secondary markets. That is, someone who provides a business with capital and someone who buys a stock are both investors.

Speculator

The assumption of risk in anticipation of gain but recognizing a higher than average possibility of loss. The term speculation implies that a business or investment risk can be analyzed and measured, and its distinction from the term Investment is one of degree of risk. It differs from gambling, which is based on random outcomes.^[1]

Types of investors

The following classes of investors are not mutually exclusive:

Individuals gambling in games of chance.
Individual investors (including trusts on behalf of individuals, and umbrella companies formed by two or more to pool investment funds)
Collectors of art, antiques, and other things of value
Angel investors (individuals and groups)
Sweat equity investor
Venture capital funds, which serve as investment collectives on behalf of individuals, companies, pension plans, insurance reserves, or other funds.
Businesses that make investments, either directly or via a captive fund
Investment trusts, including real estate investment trusts
Mutual funds, hedge funds, and other funds, ownership of which may or may not be publicly traded (these funds typically pool money raised from their owner-subscribers to invest in securities)
Sovereign wealth funds

Investors might also be classified according to their styles. In this respect, an important distinctive investor psychology trait is risk attitude.

Investor protection

The term “investor protection” defines the entity of efforts and activities to observe, safeguard and enforce the rights and claims of a person in his role as an investor. This includes advice and legal action. The assumption of a need of protection is based on the experience that financial investors are usually structurally inferior to providers of financial services and products due to lack of professional knowledge, information or experience. Countries with stronger investor protections tend to grow faster than those with poor investor protections.

v t e Financial markets

Types of stocks	Common stock Golden share Preferred stock Restricted stock Tracking stock

Share capital	Authorised capital Issued shares Shares outstanding Treasury stock

Participants	Broker-dealer Floor broker Floor trader Investor Market maker Proprietary trader Quantitative analyst Stock trader Regulator

Exchanges	Electronic communication network Stock exchange opening times Over-the-counter List of stock exchanges Multilateral trading facility

Stock valuation	Alpha Arbitrage pricing theory Beta Book value Capital asset pricing model Dividend yield Earnings per share Earnings yield Dividend discount model Security characteristic line Security market line T-model

Trading theories and strategies	Algorithmic trading Buy and hold Concentrated stock Contrarian investing Day trading Dollar cost averaging Efficient-market hypothesis Fundamental analysis Growth stock Market timing Modern portfolio theory Momentum investing Mosaic theory Pairs trade Post-modern portfolio theory Random walk hypothesis Style investing Swing trading Technical analysis Trend following Value investing

Related terms	Block trade Cross listing Dark liquidity Dividend Dual-listed company DuPont analysis Flight-to-quality Haircut Initial public offering Margin Market anomaly Market capitalization Market depth Market manipulation Market trend Mean reversion Momentum Open outcry Public float Public offering Rally Reverse stock split Returns-based style analysis Share repurchase Short selling Slippage Speculation Stock dilution Stock market index Stock split Trade Uptick rule Volatility Voting interest Yield

↑ Barron's ISBN 0-8120-4631-3

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.

Investor

Speculator

Types of investors

Investor protection

See also