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I'm not sure where you get this definition from. I'm a "retail" investor in that I use a broker (IB) instead of directly connecting to exchanges. Yet I day- and

I'm not sure where you get this definition from. I'm a "retail" investor in that I use a broker (IB) instead of directly connecting to exchanges. Yet I day- and swing-trade for a living.

fredkbloggs 11y ago
If you trade for a living, you are not an investor; you are a trader. Whether retail or wholesale is irrelevant. Trading and investing are completely different animals, which you as a trader know very well.
- gnaritas 11y ago
  Traders are investors with shorter time horizons; they are not different animals. Buying a stock because you think the company is a good value and will grow over time is not different than buying a stock because you think it's going to have positive earnings out tomorrow and the price is going to bounce; both buyers are investors and both are trading, simply on different time horizons.
  - fredkbloggs 11y ago
    If you don't think that relying on market behavior for profits makes a fundamental difference, we'll have to agree to disagree.
    - gnaritas 11y ago
      No one said it wasn't different, I said they're both still investors. It's wrong to claim trading isn't investing, it most certainly is.
- ssanders82 11y ago
  Yes, I am a retail trader. My issue was with the phrase "Retail investors buy and hold till retirement"
kgwgk 11y ago
Your definition seems even worse. Are pension funds (and all the other institutional investors using brokers) retail investors?
- gnaritas 11y ago
  A retail investor is someone investing his own money.
  - kasey_junk 11y ago
    In that case nearly every trader in the profession is a retail investor.
    - gnaritas 11y ago
      That's true; you're a professional when you're investing other people's money. Investing your own money requires no licensing and regulation, when a professional starts to only trade his own money, he becomes a retail investor.
      - kasey_junk 11y ago
        I don't know anyone who uses that definition. Typically a "retail investor" is thought of as someone who uses a retail broker. That is, as opposed to using an IBank's trading desk, an internal trading platform, bloomberg, etc.
        kgwgk 11y ago
        I cannot comment on what definition does the people that you know use, but I would say gnaritas' definition is more common than yours: http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=retail-investor http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=retail-investor EDIT: This is the definition used by the FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority): “Retail investor” means any person other than an institutional investor, regardless of whether the person has an account with a member. “Institutional investor” includes a bank, savings and loan association, insurance company, registered investment company, SEC or state registered investment adviser, natural person or entity with total assets of at least $50M, government entity, certain employee benefit plans with at least 100 participants (but not any participant of such plans), FINRA members and their registered persons, and any person acting solely on behalf of an institutional investor.

I'm not sure where you get this definition from. I'm a "retail" investor in that I use a broker (IB) instead of directly connecting to exchanges. Yet I day- and swing-trade for a living.

fredkbloggs 11y ago

If you trade for a living, you are not an investor; you are a trader. Whether retail or wholesale is irrelevant. Trading and investing are completely different animals, which you as a trader know very well.

gnaritas 11y ago
Traders are investors with shorter time horizons; they are not different animals. Buying a stock because you think the company is a good value and will grow over time is not different than buying a stock because you think it's going to have positive earnings out tomorrow and the price is going to bounce; both buyers are investors and both are trading, simply on different time horizons.
- fredkbloggs 11y ago
  If you don't think that relying on market behavior for profits makes a fundamental difference, we'll have to agree to disagree.
  - gnaritas 11y ago
    No one said it wasn't different, I said they're both still investors. It's wrong to claim trading isn't investing, it most certainly is.
ssanders82 11y ago
Yes, I am a retail trader. My issue was with the phrase "Retail investors buy and hold till retirement"

kgwgk 11y ago

Your definition seems even worse. Are pension funds (and all the other institutional investors using brokers) retail investors?

gnaritas 11y ago
A retail investor is someone investing his own money.
- kasey_junk 11y ago
  In that case nearly every trader in the profession is a retail investor.
  - gnaritas 11y ago
    That's true; you're a professional when you're investing other people's money. Investing your own money requires no licensing and regulation, when a professional starts to only trade his own money, he becomes a retail investor.
    - kasey_junk 11y ago
      I don't know anyone who uses that definition. Typically a "retail investor" is thought of as someone who uses a retail broker. That is, as opposed to using an IBank's trading desk, an internal trading platform, bloomberg, etc.
      - kgwgk 11y ago
        I cannot comment on what definition does the people that you know use, but I would say gnaritas' definition is more common than yours: http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=retail-investor http://lexicon.ft.com/Term?term=retail-investor EDIT: This is the definition used by the FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority): “Retail investor” means any person other than an institutional investor, regardless of whether the person has an account with a member. “Institutional investor” includes a bank, savings and loan association, insurance company, registered investment company, SEC or state registered investment adviser, natural person or entity with total assets of at least $50M, government entity, certain employee benefit plans with at least 100 participants (but not any participant of such plans), FINRA members and their registered persons, and any person acting solely on behalf of an institutional investor.