The sell side provides liquidity to the market, by engaging in market making and other activities, while the buy side consumes market liquidity (transacting so

The sell side provides liquidity to the market, by engaging in market making and other activities, while the buy side consumes market liquidity (transacting so they can construct/manage a portfolio). So as others have said, sell side typically is the investment banks and brokerage houses, while buy side is your asset managers.