Fund, in English, refers to a certain amount of funds set up for a certain purpose. It mainly includes trust and investment funds, provident funds, insurance funds, retirement funds and funds of various foundations.
The difference between open-end fund and closed-end fund
(1) The variability of fund size is different. Closed-end funds have a definite duration (in China, the duration is not less than 5 years), during which the issued fund shares cannot be redeemed. Although this kind of fund can be raised under special circumstances, it must meet strict legal conditions. So in general, the size of the fund is fixed. However, the fund shares issued by open-end funds can be redeemed, and investors can also buy fund shares at will during the duration of the fund, which leads to the constant change of the total amount of funds every day. In other words, it is always in an "open" state. This is the fundamental difference between closed-end funds and open-end funds.
(2) There are different ways to buy and sell fund shares. When a closed-end fund is initiated, investors can subscribe to the fund management company or sales organization; When closed-end funds are listed and traded, investors can entrust brokers to buy and sell at market prices on the stock exchange. When investors invest in open-end funds, they can purchase or redeem them from fund management companies or sales organizations at any time.
(3) The buying and selling prices of fund shares are formed in different ways. Because closed-end funds are listed on the exchange, their buying and selling prices are greatly influenced by the relationship between market supply and demand. When the market supply is less than the demand, the buying and selling price of the fund unit may be higher than the net asset value of each fund unit, and then the fund assets owned by investors will increase; When the market supply exceeds demand, the fund price may be lower than the net asset value of each fund unit. The transaction price of open-end funds is calculated based on the net asset value of the fund unit, which can directly reflect the level of the net asset value of the fund unit.
In terms of fund transaction costs, investors have to pay a certain percentage of securities transaction tax and handling fee in addition to the price when buying and selling closed-end funds, just like buying and selling listed stocks; The related expenses (such as initial subscription fee, redemption fee, etc.) that investors of open-end funds need to pay are included in the fund price. Generally speaking, the transaction cost of closed-end funds is higher than that of open-end funds.