A
stock trader or
equity trader or
share trader is a person or company involved in trading
equity securities. Stock traders may be an 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. In addition, the financial markets are usually subjected to
speculation.