buy side


Buy Side

The institutional investors that buy most securities available for sale on Wall Street. See also: Sell side.

buy side

The portion of the securities business in which institutional orders originate. In most instances, the buy side is limited to institutional buyers such as pension-fund portfolio managers. Individual investors are usually excluded from the buy side because they are not considered formal participants in the securities business. Compare sell side.

Buy side.

Institutional money managers, such as mutual funds, pension funds, and endowments, are the buy side of Wall Street.

Buy-side institutions use proprietary research to make investments for the portfolios they manage and don't interact with or make recommendations to individual investors.

In contrast, sell-side institutions such as brokerage firms act as agents for individual investors when they buy and sell securities, and make their research available to their clients.