What is an investor? What is a trader?

I'd like a formal definition. How do investors decide on what stocks to invest? How does a trader decide when to trade?

Although not an easy definition to give in simple terms: an investor generally takes a longer term view of the market, and is more interested in the asset, its management, the fundamentals of the asset ( P & L, etc ) and the markets in which it delivers its products and services.

A trader on the other hand is only interested in one thing - can the asset deliver a profit if bought and sold. Traders generally work on shorter timescales - from minutes to a few weeks but but have little interest in analysing the asset in great detail, its just a question of whether the trade will be profitable.

Traders will usually decide on a trade based solely on technical analysis and will enter and exit based on chart reading. An investor will use fundamental analysis of the asset and select the best performing share from the sector which best reflects the economy. They will then use charts to confirm the fundamentals and identify a good entry point - eg any share should be in an uptrend and not falling through the floor.

It is possible to be both a trader and investor - just don't confuse the two strategies. You may be investing in a portfolio for the longer term, but speculating as a trader for shorter term gains.

A good way to try both strategies is in a virtual stock market game.

Good luck.

check wikipedia too

http://www.stock-market-investors.com/st...

alright, an investor uses a "keep and hold" technique, usually letting prices appreciate over time then selling after a long while and a trader invests in stocks for short periods of times and sells, and predict using trends and graphs, and different algorithms.
note: for how to use the information to start looking at trends look at stock market forums and i recommend using a program called "Metastock"

An investor is a trader in securities, the trader is an investor in commodities. It is the trick of the trade nobody rightly shares. If they do, what else can they do? The motto of both is same, enrichment.

investor: someone who puts money into stocks, bonds or other funds

trader: a trader is someone who buys and sells financial instruments such as stocks, bonds and derivatives

An investors sole aim is to make profit, they will invest it a progect or business ect. if they think there is a good chance the risk will pay off and they will make money.

A trader will trade products that will make them profit, because they add value to the product. They most want to trade when there is alot of demand for a good, but they are in a small demand. This will mean people will be willing to pay a higher price and they will make more money.

LOL what a little mini essay that turned in to. i hope it helps && good luck.

Investors = invest and hold for long run

Traders = buy/sell on regular basis

investors put their money where they think (after doing a lot of research) it can be safe (risk is minimized) and at some point provide a good return. investors hold on to their stock for longer periods compared to traders who switch from one stock to another at shorter periods. traders care more about the stock price and not the company. traders rely more on just graphs and patterns and starts trading based on the current conditions. investors put their money on stocks that they know are undervalued and/or have a lot of potential for growth. you can learn more by reading what benjamin graham wrote about the difference between an investor and a speculator in his book - the intelligent investor.