Retail investors are everyday individuals who buy and sell stocks through brokerage or retirement savings accounts. Unlike institutional investors, these nonprofessionals trade for themselves with their own money.
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Institutional investors, on the other hand, are investing for someone else. There are big differences between the two, one being that institutional investors can be granted certain special treatment (like being able to purchase IPOs right away).
A day trader is anyone who buys and sells a stock within the same trading day. They quickly move in and out of the market to try and profit. Some day traders are professionals, while others are retail investors. While day trading has risen in popularity in recent years, the SEC warns it is a speculative strategy that can cause big losses. Learn more here.
Whether you’re leaping straight into the future and looking for stocks picked by AI, a sci-fi aficionado who wants to invest in space travel, or a drama enthusiast looking to make money on stock market volatility, the ETF market’s weird corners have something for you.
Michael Burry is best known for shorting the mortgage bond market in 2007. Before the Great Recession, the legendary investor’s firm took a stake in GameStop and argued the company was being undervalued in 2019. Learn more about Burry’s historical impact on markets here.
For instance, an expense ratio of 0.5% would add a cost of $50 on an investment of $10K. And while expense ratios have on average decreased in recent years, a particularly hefty fee can still eat into total profits.
Holding costs include things like the expense ratio, or the annual fee that a fund issuer charges. Transaction costs include things like brokerage commissions, or the fee that a broker charges to enact a trade. However, in recent years, most brokers have essentially eliminated commissions on ETF trading.
If you can’t get enough politics in your life, why not invest like a politician? Because members of Congress are required to disclose their stock purchases, you can do just that, and the NANC and KRUZ ETFs make it even easier. NANC, referencing Nancy Pelosi, holds a basket of stocks that Democratic politicians have purchased. KRUZ, referencing Ted Cruz, holds a basket of Republican-held stocks.
Instead of purchasing individual stocks and bonds, new investors may want to start in funds that track an index—like the S&P 500—or that hold a group of themed stocks.
r/WallStreetBets is a forum (aka a “subreddit”) on the social media platform Reddit that was started in 2012. Later, r/WallStreetBets evolved into a place where unconventional investment approaches were not just tolerated, but planned and celebrated. It’s perhaps most famous for its role in the GameStop saga.
In 2024, the SEC approved ETFs that track the price of bitcoin called spot bitcoin ETFs. These funds have since significantly increased investment inflows into cryptocurrency markets.
The United States is home to more than 33 million businesses, the vast majority of which are small businesses, with millions being created (and others closing shop) every year. These businesses often rely on loans, provide the goods and services that keep the economy flowing, and sometimes even grow large enough to enter public markets or provide private investment opportunities. Explore key topics central to business and finance, from the role of the Federal Reserve to how initial public offerings work, how millions of American students finance higher education, and more.