Shares - also known as equities or stocks. You literally buy a stake in an individual company, have the right to vote at annual meetings and to share in any declared profits. There are different types of shares, each havi8ng slightly different characteristics: the most common type traded by investors are’ ordinary’ shares. You can trade shares in UK and international companies through us.

Unit Trusts & OEICs - otherwise collectively referred to as ‘Funds’, they provide an easy way to gain exposure to a broad range of investments. They come in many shapes and sizes but have various common characteristics: they are professionally managed, pool together money from individual investors to form one investment ‘pot’, and invest according to stated objectives for their particular fund.

ETFs - Exchange Traded Funds work like Unit Trusts and OEICs but are traded like shares. Typically, they are ‘trackers’ following a particular stock market index, such as the FTSE100 or the US’s Dow Jones.

ETCs - Exchange Traded Commodities, a y to invest in the commodities markets, such as oil, metals or minerals, without holding them directly.

Gilts & Bonds - Gilts and Bonds are viewed as being lower risk than Shares and Unit Trust because they are effectively loans you make to the issuing organization.

Rather than receive a dividend, as you would with most shares, you get a set return, based on the interest rate: in the case of ‘index linked’, the return is increased by the rate of inflation to protect the ‘real’ value of your money.

Warrants & Covered Warrants- Warrants are issued by companies and give investors the right to buy new shares at a certain price (the exercise price) by a certain date (the expiry date). Covered Warrants on the other hand are part of a family known as ‘securitised derivatives’ and are issued by financial institutions enabling you to buy and sell existing shares: most importantly, you don’t have to make the trade – you would only do so if the price of the investment was in your favour.

Because they set a price at which you can buy the underlying investment, both Warrants and Covered Warrants can have a value of their own, typically relate to the difference between the exercise price and the market price of the shares.

Since Covered Warrants are more complex you will be asked to confirm you understands the additional risk by completing an appropriateness assessment before trading in them.

Securitised derivatives – this term covers a wide range of financial instruments put together by different institutions to enable investors to take advantage of movements in prices without actually buying the underlying investments. They are called ‘derivatives’ because their value is derived from another investment, rather being than having a stand-alone value. You’ll see explanations of the different types in our Research & Education section. As with Covered Warrants, you’ll be asked to complete the assessment before trading in them.