Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Spread bets and CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how spread bets and CFDs work, and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
An asset class is a category of financial instrument - these can be physical assets or financial assets. The instruments are grouped into asset classes based on whether they show similar characteristics, behave in the same way on the market, or are governed by the same laws and regulations.
To prevent the risk associated with focusing on one section of the market, many strategies recommend spreading trades out across a mix of assets. This is referred to as diversification (or diversifying). There is no guarantee that diversifying a portfolio will yield returns, but it may help reduce risk – if one asset class experiences a positive swing, it could outweigh the downward movement of another.
Assets are grouped together based on their financial structure. The traditional four types of asset classes are:
There is no complete agreement on how many asset classes exist. Some people only identify three categories of assets - equities, fixed income and money market - while others use as many as five, which puts commodities real estate in their own categories.
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