Put simply, stocks are a type of financial product that represents your partial ownership in a company. When stocks appreciate, you can sell the stock for a profit. Moreover, some stocks pay annual dividends (some of the company's annual profit) to shareholders. On the other hand, bonds are fixed-income securities that represent a loan made by an investor to a borrower. For example, when you buy a government bond, you are lending money to the government for a risk-free return. When you buy a Contract for Difference (CFD), you are essentially buying a contract that allows you to predict a share's price movements. You make money on the difference in price between the opening and closing trades. These short-term investments are very popular for foreign exchange and commodities like grains, gold, oil, and natural gas. Finally, an "option" gives investors the opportunity to purchase a share at a specific price in the future. A "future", however, requires the investor to purchase the shares in the future at the previously agreed-upon price. Because of the speculative nature of these products, they are popular with more experienced investors.