Securities are the general name of all kinds of economic rights and interests certificates, and also refer to special products, which are legal certificates to prove that coupon holders enjoy specific rights and interests. Mainly including capital security, currency securities and commodity securities. In a narrow sense, securities mainly refer to securities products in the securities market, including equity market products such as stocks, debt market products such as bonds, and derivative market products such as stock futures, options and interest rate futures.
As a written document commending some civil rights, marketable securities have the following basic characteristics:
1. Securities are proof of property rights. Valuable securities refer to documents of rights with property value. In modern society, people are no longer satisfied with the direct possession, use, income and disposal of wealth, but pay more attention to the ultimate control and domination of wealth. As a new form of property, securities came into being. Holding securities means that the holder has control over the property represented by securities, but the control right is not direct control, but indirect control.
2. Securities are negotiable documents of rights. The vitality of securities lies in their liquidity. Traditional civil rights always face many obstacles in the process of transfer. As far as civil property rights are concerned, its transfer is not inevitable in nature, but a complex civil act because it does not involve personality and identity.
3. Securities are receipts of rights. The ultimate goal of securities holders is to obtain income, which is the direct motivation of securities holders to invest in securities. On the one hand, securities itself is a kind of property right, which embodies a specific property right. Securities holders can obtain income by exercising property rights, such as dividend income (stocks) or interest income (bonds); On the other hand, securities holders can make profits by transferring securities, such as buying at a low price and selling at a high price in the secondary market; Securities holders can profit from the price difference, especially from speculation.
4. Securities are the evidence of risk rights. Securities risk refers to the possibility that investors cannot obtain expected returns or even suffer losses due to changes in the securities market or issuers. The risk and return of securities investment are related. In the real market, there are risks in any securities investment activities, and it is impossible for any investment to completely avoid risks.