Financial market trading has been in trend for decades, attracting millions of investors. Trading is a beneficial investment if traded with market understanding and knowledge of the factors having an impact on the market and its instruments. The trade and its functioning sound easy, but when a trader actually invests, they have to consider a lot of factors.
The trade has strategies, plans, analysis tools, and diversification of the portfolio to minimize the trade risks. Risk management is necessary for traders and investors for a successful trade. The strategies, analysis tools, and plans are mentioned and discussed several times in various ways. But, the diversification of the portfolio is rarely described or informed about.
In the article, diversification of portfolio has been discussed, and its use has been detailed for a more profitable trade.
Diversification of Portfolio
The term diversification means to diversify or to enlarge or divide something for better results. It could be in any field, business products, business enlargement, operations, or trade investments. The diversification of a portfolio can be termed the diversification of investments.
Traders use the diversification of portfolios to have multiple investments and minimize the risk. So, it is like one invests in an instrument or market, and along with it, the trader also invests in other instruments. If one of the trades makes a loss, then the trader will be able to earn from the other.
To better understand the diversification of a portfolio, let’s take an example. When children play the game of hiding and seek, they do not altogether hide at a place, obviously not. Instead, they all hide at different places to minimize the risk of getting caught. Similarly, traders minimize the investment risk by diversifying their portfolios.
Traders invest in different instruments and markets to maximize their profits and opportunities. If we think for a second that a trader invests in one security and enjoys good profits. But, suddenly, the security prices fall in the market, then the trader’s whole investment turns into a loss.
Diversification of portfolio: Purpose
The primary purpose of diversification of portfolio is to minimize the risk, and specifically the unsystematic risks. The unsystematic risk relates to a particular market segment. Thus, traders diversify their portfolios to reduce the risk, and the investment made by the trader won’t get affected altogether.
If one trade is affected by the market fluctuation, then the other would benefit the traders. So, traders will not be at a loss and earn from one or another and balance the trade investments and the gains from the markets.
Traders split their investments into more companies in case of stocks, currency pairs in case of forex trade, various metals for metal trading, index of companies for indices, etc. Thus, traders make 50-50 investments; traders are able to have some profit from the trade.
In the diversification of a portfolio, the risk and returns are related. The different market instruments have different characteristics, which makes the risk and return ratio different for the investments.
Classification of diversification of portfolio
The markets accessible for traders to diversify their investments are several. They can invest in stocks, indices, precious metals, cryptocurrency, forex, commodities, etc. Moreover, there are debentures, fixed deposits, and mutual funds to diversify the investments. But all these are mainly classified into three asset classes, fixed income, equity, and gold.
Fixed income is the lowest risk asset, including mutual funds, government schemes, etc. Traders can even invest in such deposits to increase their income and be in the trade. Company’s along with shares also have mutual funds and debentures that are good sources for investments.
Gold is yet another diversification tool; traders of gold have a higher risk than fixed income. The risk with the trade of gold is more; however, traders invest in gold for a long period of time to earn profits. In addition, the potential of returns from gold investments is higher, as the precious metal gold has good market worth.
Equity is the riskiest investment of the three classifications but with significant returns. The equity markets are a good investment with high returns if traded with market analysis and strategies.
The markets for diversification of portfolios outperform each other and are excellent for having returns on the investments made. Traders use the technique of diversification to maximize potential profits and reduce trade risks.
Building a diversified portfolio
To build a diversified portfolio, traders have to set a mix of the investments they would be investing in. The three factors which are considered for the first step of building a portfolio are:
- Stock
- Bonds
- Cash
The three mentioned above points have earned traders and investors good returns. Stocks are at a higher level than bonds, and bonds are a bit higher than cash. However, these come with a risk that traders should be aware of. The more the returns, the more the risk, so stocks have a higher risk than bonds, and cash has the lowest risk.
In their first step of diversification of portfolio, traders decide the mix of stocks, bonds, and cash. The mix of the factors or investments is termed asset allocation in the financial markets. A significant step for the diversification of a portfolio is asset allocation.
Traders invest in these based on their risk tolerance levels and consumption goals. Accordingly, they decide the asset allocation in the market. Traders who want to completely avoid the risk usually go for bonds, and traders who want moderate 50-50 risk can go for a mix of the three stocks, cash, and bonds. The traders with aggressive risk tolerance go for stock trading.
How to diversify your portfolio?
Portfolio diversification is an essential tool of investment in the financial markets. Traders who want to manage the risk and take good returns against their trade use diversification. Traders who want to diversify their portfolio should be aware of the below-mentioned points. Let’s have a look at these:
Spreading the investments:
To trade in the market, traders have to spread across their investments for high profits. Suppose a trader invests all the funds in a single market, forex, and due to the uncertainty of the market, all the investments made make a big loss for the trader. To avoid this situation, traders will spread the investment by choosing different instruments such as gold, stocks, commodities, cryptocurrency, etc.
Traders can even in one market diversify their investment, that is, investing in different stocks of different companies, currency pairs of different countries, etc. These steps will simplify the trade and make the investment process easier for the investor. However, traders will have to regularly monitor the market movements for opportunities.
Exploring
In the diversification of portfolios, traders can expand their investment by adding more assets or investments to their portfolios. Traders should go for investments that have different market movements that would help them earn. If one is low, the other will increase. Thus, a beneficial trade with exploring more market opportunities.
Consideration
For diversification of portfolio, traders can consider other options of the market. These could be options, ETFs, CFDs, mutual funds and indexes, etc. These are stable market investments with derivative products, bonds, and indexes that have returned for the traders. The index market has a high return due to its cost-effective nature in comparison to other investments.
In addition, the bonds provide traders with hedging, thus securing the portfolio from market volatility.
Keep moving
Traders who want to diversify their portfolios need to be active and keep moving. It is an important strategy for the diversification of portfolios. Investors have to keep investing in the assets to build their portfolios. Traders can invest in equities, bonds, cash, CFDs, options, etc.
The approach of building the portfolio and continuously moving helps traders deal with the uncertainty of the markets.
Entry and Exit
The entry and exit of the market help traders minimize the loss and take advantage of the opportunities at the correct time. The diversification of a portfolio works when traders know when to exit the trade. If traders are not aware of this, they may lose. The investment that supports long-term trade should be traded accordingly; similarly, the market with short-term positive trade results should be done that way.
Traders should know the entry and exit of the instruments traded. For this, they can take strategies and analysis tools to find about the entry and exit points.
Commission
In case the trader is taking aid from online brokers or other financial institutions, they should follow up on the commission charged. The online brokers are several, and they have offered advanced technology to trade for which they may charge some commission. Some of the authorized online brokers are ROInvesting.
How to build a portfolio?
Portfolio development requires good market knowledge and deep research to make the right decisions for diversified investments. Here are some key points that traders can consider for building their portfolio:
Trading platforms
In diversifying your portfolio, trades have to first take into account the point of help, how much they should take to be successful. It depends on the strategy of the investor; if they want to invest less, they can simply go for a diversification they want. Traders who want to stay for long and invest by taking risks can use the trading platforms offered by the online brokers.
The expert advisors facility of the trading platform takes the decisions as per the details provided by the investor and trades on behalf of the investor. Thus, they diversify the portfolio automatically without making it a problem for the traders.
Choose an account
An investment trading account is a necessity for the diversification of a portfolio. Traders can choose an investment account as per their needs and money. There are retirement accounts, brokerage accounts, and high yield savings accounts. Traders can go for any they find suits their future needs.
Risk Tolerance
Traders should go for an investment that is under the risk tolerance capacity. The investment should be in stock if trade can take high risk, bonds when the risk tolerance is low, and in a mix of stock, bond, and cash when they can handle moderate risk.
Determining the asset allocation
We have talked about the asset allocation in the above paragraphs; traders can determine the asset allocation ratio as per their wish. However, all other factors and their impact should be studied beforehand. Asset allocation is choosing the mix of investments as per the risk tolerance capacity of the traders.
Rebalancing the portfolio
Traders invest in the assets as per the market movements at that particular time, but the movement of market prices and other factors impacts asset allocation with time. To manage this, traders can rebalance their portfolios by changing the mix of the investment.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Diversification of Portfolio
Every segment of the market has pros and cons; traders can have a quick look at these points to understand the diversification of the portfolio better.
Advantages:
- Diversification of portfolio helps manage the market uncertainty
- Traders can better gain from the market investments
- Enhances the returns
- Risk management
- Leverage growth opportunities
- Provides stability in trade
Disadvantages:
- In portfolio diversification, traders over invest
- Tax implications
- Risk of unknown investments
Conclusion
Trading is fun when done with multiple options, diversification of portfolio is one such secure trade option that helps traders earn. When traders invest in different securities, they may fail in a few but gain from others. The gain ratio should be more in such trades. If it is not so, traders can change their investment patterns.
However, traders using the technique of diversification should have a high-risk tolerance capacity. It is not always gain; traders may have to face loss before earning high profits. Trading with such risk requires using the trading platforms, trading tools, along strategies. A beneficial trade is one that manages the risks and generates returns on investments.
