Equities

In the context of investing, an equity is a stock or any other security representing an ownership interest.

Classifications
Canadian investors generally classify equities by type and/or geographically, depending on the context of their use, typically for asset allocation reasons. The following classifications are not mutually exclusive.
 * Canadian equities
 * Common shares
 * Preferred shares
 * Hybrid Securities
 * Real estate investment trust
 * Split share corporation
 * Debenture
 * US equities
 * International equities
 * Emerging markets
 * Hedge funds
 * Private equity
 * Flow-through shares
 * Warrants and Rights offerings
 * Limited Partnerships

How to invest
There are a number of ways to invest in equities. Products such as exchange-traded funds and mutual funds can be used to invest in broad based coverage of these classifications. Another way to invest is to build a portfolio holding individual stocks purchased on a stock exchange, such as the Toronto Stock Exchange for Canadian equities.

Security regulators
Security regulation in Canada is under provincial and territorial jurisdiction.