Financial market participants

Financial market participants range from banks and other lending institutions to entities at the federal level. In the U.S., the federal government is the largest market participant through it’s varies entities and sponsored agencies. The Federal Reserve, although not technically a part of the U.S. government, reports to Congress and the central bank’s Chairman is appointed by the President.

In other places, such as Eastern Europe, the GDP of some banks and financial institutions are larger than their country’s entire GDP. Large financial institutions like banks, corporations, hedge funds, mutual funds, and wealthy individuals are significant players in markets.

To comprehend the financial markets, it is crucial to distinguish its participants. There are two fundamental financial market participant classes, Investor vs. Speculator and Institutional vs. Retail. Activity perpetrated by central banks generally elicits intervening instead of participatory measures.

Financial market participants might enter on the Supply Side, thus supplying surplus of cash (as investments) favoring the demand; or entering on the Demand Side, thus requiring surplus currency (borrowed capital) preferring the Demand Side. The demand positions comprises of those necessitating flow of money and those requiring short-term finance, as well as and those requiring funding for long-term development. The supply position comprises of those who have combined preservations leveraged to strengthen the demand position. The remittance of profits goes to those lending with a margin fed to the banks or other lending intermediaries. The investor of course, is anyone risking cash speculating a return. However, the descriptor of financial market participants utilizes an applied definition relating to finance, seeing descriptions of specified individuals and organizations that buy capital or debt consistently for profit interchanging for financing a developing company. The definition may also find application with individuals buying real estates, commodities, currency, or other various assets.

Investor vs. Speculator

A speculator is one who purchasing, holds, sells or is involved in short-selling of various investments of seeking to gain profits derived from the variations in pricing rather than purchasing for the purpose of income through dividends or interest. Speculators represent one of three financial market participants, set aside from hedging, arbitrage, or long-term investors. Speculators want nothing to do with long-term holds on assets. On the other hand, an institutional investor refers to an organization such as a mutual fund, a corporation, insurance firm, bank, a retirement fund, bank, insurance company, and the like that is financially advanced and puts up large investments, often found in sizable portfolios. Due to such sophistication, institutional investors are financial market participants often seeking out private arrangements of securities, where sometimes laws governing securities do not apply.

Retail investors usually fall into one of two classes

• Beneficial Shareholders refers to retail investors who carry shares of their investment with a broker or at a bank. The bank or broker, possess the investment for such a shareholder.
• Registered Shareholders refers to retail investors holding shares of investments privately with the issuer. Such registered shareholders keep original copies of investment certificates.

Retail and Institutional Investors

Retail investors are the individuals and small groups who invest in the equity market for either short-term or long-term gains. On the other hand, institutional investors are the banks, financial services firms, different financial institutions and mutual fund companies which make heavy investments in the stock markets generally for a prolonged period of time. The risk taking capacity of institutional investors is far more than that of retail investors. So, that is why we see many institutional investors purchasing falling stocks or holding stocks even in the phase of a bear market.

Retail investors constitute of a very small portion of the total volumes generated on the stock exchange. The stock markets across the world are directed and controlled mostly by the large institutional investors. The institutional investors can either be the domestic ones or the foreign ones who have sought the requisite permissions to invest in markets of various countries. The financial planning and financial management of institutional investors is much more sophisticated and perfect as compared to the retail investors. That is why; it has been observed that institutional investors have always made more money than the retail investors.