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A stock is an undivisible unit of ownership interest in a corporation, today most often dematerialized. A stockowner (or a stockholder) is entitled to part of the property and profit of a joint-stock company and has the right to vote in the assembly, the right of priority when buying newly issued stocks, and the like. Stocks are issued without maturity.
The most common motivations for investing in stocks are capital yield (the expected increase in the market value of stocks) and dividend yield (the expected future dividends). Combined, as a rule, they have a potentially higher yield than more conservative investments and savings instruments.
There are two basic types of stocks: ordinary and preferred. An ordinary stock provides the stockholder with the right to vote at the stockholders assembly and the right to the payout of a portion of profits. Preferred stocks generally do not have voting rights, but often give priority in payout of dividends and other preferential rights (as defined in the articles of association of the joint-stock company).
Stocks are usually introduced to the market through an Initial Public Offering, and most trading takes place on secondary markets (stock exchanges).
ZB Trader Global trading platform allows online trading with more than 19,000 stocks on most global markets.
ZB Trader HR trading platform allows online trading of stocks of Croatian companies on the Zagreb Stock Exchange.

Bonds are a financial debt instrument - by issuing a bond (fixed-term) the issuer commits to pay the principal to the investor and periodically (in the case of coupon bonds) pay accrued interest on the purchased amount of the nominal value of the bond, throughout the period in which the investor held this security in his portfolio.
Investment in bonds is primarily a long-term investment. Bonds are a convenient financial instrument for investors with a low propensity to risk. By purchasing bonds the investor becomes entitled to payout of coupons and the principal upon maturity, and can also realize the income from the increase in value.
According to the type of the issuer, there are three types of bonds: government, municipal and corporate. According to the payout of coupons, or cash flows, there are coupon, annuity and zero coupon bonds. .
Basic concepts related to bonds: .

• Coupon: The interest rate that the issuer periodically pays to the holder of a bond.
• Nominal value: The value that the issuer will pay out to the owner of a bond at maturity date of the bond.
• Maturity date: The date of payout of the nominal value.
• Duration: Indicator of sensitivity of bond prices to changes of the interest rate.
• Yield to maturity: Refers to annualized yield if the bond is held to maturity, and assuming that all future paid coupons are reinvested at the same rate.

Exchange traded fund (ETF) is an investment fund the shares of which are traded in a regulated market. Compared to a conventional investment fund there is one more important difference - while the value of shares in investment funds is determined based on the net asset value at the end of a trading day, the value of the ETF changes throughout the trading day on the basis of supply and demand in the market. .
Every ETF tracks a certain underlying instrument. For example, there are ETFs that track gold, oil, currency or stock market index as the underlying instrument. An ETF that tracks stock market indices as the underlying instrument allows investors the exposure to the overall market represented by the index.
The key benefit of investing in ETFs are low costs, high liquidity and the possibility of trading in one day. The risk of investing in ETFs is high. You can read more on investment risks in the document Information for small investors.
ETF types:

• Index ETF - A passive strategy that replicates the movement of a particular index. The underlying components of the index - stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies.
• Commodity ETF - Allow exposure to certain commodities (raw materials) such as precious metals, energy sources and agricultural products. Underlying are not commodities themselves (raw materials), but derivative contracts that replicate the movement of certain commodities (raw materials).
• Currency ETF - Allow exposure to a particular currency, and sometimes a basket of different currencies. Most commonly, currency futures contracts that replicate the price of a currency are underlying.
• Leveraged ETFs - Most often they use futures contracts and debt instruments in order to multiply the yield of the underlying instrument - the effect of financial leverage increases the potential profit and loss, with a significant increase in risk.

Certificates are one of the simplest forms of structured products, which enable exposure to different types of assets, and are traded in regulated markets (stock exchanges). The most commonly issued certificates are based on indices, stocks, bonds and commodities.
Structured securities can be divided into two main groups, depending on the relation of price movements of structured security and the underlying instrument, or the degree of financial leverage:

• Investment certificates (without leverage)

• Structured securities with financial leverage