Types of Buyers

The two types of buyers of stock are individuals and organizations or corporations. Buyers can be further broken down into the categories of Investors or traders. Each of these buyers is driven by a specific philosophy or purpose when they buy stock.

Strategies

Traders buy stock to make a quick profit by reselling the stock as soon as it has gained some minimal value that the trader is satisfied with. Investors also buy stock to make a profit, but they are generally more interested in realizing a greater profit rather than a quicker one.

Time Frames

Traders generally retain ownership of the stock they buy from a few minutes to a week or two before reselling it. Investors usually retain ownership of newly bought stock anywhere from a few weeks to many years.

Organizations and Corporations

Organizations and corporations can also be traders or investors, but sometimes they also buy shares of their own stock. They do this to increase the value of their stock by showing that they are financially stable enough to buy their own stock, and by reducing the number of shares available for other buyers to acquire.

Warning

Even in the best of financial times stock trading and investing can be very risky.

Source:

"Stock Investing For Dummies;" Paul Mladjenovic