A stock trader or equity trader or share trader is a person or company involved in agent, hedger, arbitrageur, speculator, stockbroker or investor. A stock investor is an individual or company who puts money to use by the purchase of equity securities, offering potential profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value (capital gains). This buy-and-hold long term strategy is passive in nature, as opposed to speculation, which is typically active in nature. Many stock speculators will trade bonds (and possibly other financial assets) as well. Stock speculation is a risky and complex occupation because the direction of the markets are generally unpredictable and lack transparency, also financial regulators are sometimes unable to adequately detect, prevent and remediate irregularities committed by malicious listed companies or other financial market participants.
The stock speculator is usually a professional. Persons can call themselves full or part-time stock traders/investors while maintaining other professions. When a stock speculator/investor has clients, and acts as a money manager or adviser with the intention of adding value to their clients finances, he is also called a financial advisor or manager. In this case, the financial manager could be an independent professional or a large bank corporation employee. This may include managers dealing with investment funds, hedge funds, mutual funds, and pension funds, or other professionals in venture capital, equity investment, fund management, and wealth management. These organized investors, are sometimes referred to as institutional investors. Several different types of stock trading strategies or approaches exist including day trading, trend following, market making, scalping (trading), momentum trading, trading the news, and arbitrage.Stock speculators are often ambiguously categorized as stock traders, if trading in that capacity, as it sounds more acceptable to the general public. Individuals or firms trading equity (stock) on the stock markets as their principal capacity are often called stock traders. Stock speculators usually try to profit from short-term price volatility with trades lasting anywhere from several seconds to several weeks.
On the other hand, stock investors are firms or individuals who purchase stocks with the intention of holding them for an extended period of time, usually several months to years, for passive income objectives such as dividend accumulation. They rely primarily on fundamental analysis for their investment decisions and fully recognize stock shares as part-ownership in the company. Many investors believe in the buy and hold strategy, which as the name suggests, implies that investors will buy stock ownership in a corporation and hold onto those stocks for the very long term, generally measured in years. This strategy was made popular in the equity bull market of the 1980s and 90s where buy-and-hold investors rode out short-term market declines and continued to hold as the market returned to its previous highs and beyond. However, during the 2001-2003 equity bear market (A bear market is defined as a 20% drop in a major index (e.g. DJIA or SPX) which lasts at least two months. The last bear market began on October 10, 2007 when the DJIA and SPX closed at bull market highs) the buy-and-hold strategy lost some followers as broader market indexes like the NASDAQ saw their values decline by over 60%.
Professional stock traders who work for a financial company, are required to complete an internship of up to four months before becoming established in their career field. In the United States, for example, internship is followed up by taking and passing a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority-administered Series 63 or 65 exam. Stock traders who pass demonstrate familiarity with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) compliant practices and regulation. Stock traders with experience usually obtain a four-year degree in a financial, accounting or economics field after licensure. Supervisory positions as a trader may usually require an MBA for advanced stock market analysis.Stock traders advise shareholders and help manage portfolios. Traders engage in buying and selling bonds, stocks, futures and shares in hedge funds. A stock trader also conducts extensive research and observation of how financial markets perform. This is accomplished through economic and microeconomic study; consequently, more advanced stock traders will delve into macroeconomics and industry specific technical analysis to track asset or corporate performance. Other duties of a stock trader include comparison of financial analysis to current and future regulation of his or her occupation.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that growth for stock and commodities traders was forecast to be greater than 21% between 2006 and 2016. In that period, stock traders would benefit from trends driven by pensions of baby boomers and their decreased reliance on Social Security. U.S. Treasury bonds would also be traded on a more fluctuating basis. Stock traders just entering the field suffer since few entry-level positions exist. While entry into this career field is very competitive, increased ownership of stocks and mutual funds drive substantial career growth of traders. Banks were also offering more opportunities for people of average means to invest and speculate in stocks. The BLS reported that stock traders had median annual incomes of $68,500. Experienced traders of stocks and mutual funds have the potential to earn more than $145,600 annually.
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