MARKET BASICS • GUIDE

Primary vs Secondary Market

Understand IPOs, new issues, secondary trading and where company capital is actually raised.

Primary markets involve new securities issued by an issuer; secondary markets involve trading among investors.

Primary

IPO, rights issue and other new offerings can raise capital for the issuer.

Secondary

A normal exchange purchase generally transfers ownership between investors rather than sending cash to the company.

Why it matters

Read the issue terms when evaluating a primary offering; analyse the company when evaluating the underlying security.

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