Front-end charges refer to the way investors pay subscription fees when they purchase open-end funds.

Back-end charges refer to a payment method in which investors do not pay subscription fees when buying open-end funds, but pay them when they sell.

The purpose of back-end charges is to encourage investors to hold funds for a long time. Therefore, the rate of back-end charges will generally decrease as the time of holding the fund increases.

Some funds even stipulate that if investors can hold the fund for a certain period before selling, the back-end charges can be completely waived.