Financial instruments package financial capital in readily tradeable forms - they do not exist outside the context of the financial markets. Their diversity of forms mirrors the diversity of risk that they manage. Financial capital, or economic capital, is any liquid medium or mechanism that represents wealth, or other styles of capital. ... Financial market is a broad market where buyers and sellers to exchange various types of financial securities or products that comprise financial securities. ... Risk is the potential harm that may arise from some present process or from some future event. ...

Financial instruments can be categorised according to whether they are cash instruments or derivatives of other instruments. A derivative is a financial contract whose payoffs over time are derived from the performance of assets (such as commodities, shares or bonds), interest rates, exchange rates, or indices (such as a stock market index, consumer price index (CPI) or an index of weather conditions). ...

• Cash instruments can be divided into securities, which are readily transferable, and other cash instruments such as loans and deposits, where both borrower and lender have to agree on a transfer.
• Derivative instruments can be divided into exchange traded derivatives and over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives.

Alternatively they can be categorised by 'asset class' depending on whether they are equity based (reflecting ownership of the issuing entity) or debt based (reflecting a loan the investor has made to the issuing entity). If it is debt, it can be further categorised into short term (less than one year) or long term. Foreign Exchange instruments and transactions are neither debt nor equity based and belong in their own category. Security is a type of transferable interest representing financial value. ... A derivative is a financial contract whose payoffs over time are derived from the performance of assets (such as commodities, shares or bonds), interest rates, exchange rates, or indices (such as a stock market index, consumer price index (CPI) or an index of weather conditions). ... A derivative is a financial contract whose payoffs over time are derived from the performance of assets (such as commodities, shares or bonds), interest rates, exchange rates, or indices (such as a stock market index, consumer price index (CPI) or an index of weather conditions). ... Ownership is the state or fact of exclusive possession or control of property, which may be an object, land/real estate, intellectual property or some other kind of property. ...

Combining the above methods for categorisation, the main instruments can be organized into a matrix as follows:

Some instruments defy categorisation into the above matrix, for example repurchase agreements. In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the issuer owes the holders a debt and is obliged to repay the principal and interest (the coupon). ... It has been suggested that Lenders be merged into this article or section. ... In finance, a futures contract is a standardized contract, traded on a futures exchange, to buy or sell a certain underlying instrument at a certain date in the future, at a pre-set price. ... In finance, an option is a contract whereby one party (the holder or buyer) has the right but not the obligation to exercise a feature of the contract (the option) on or before a future date (the exercise date or expiry). ... In finance, a futures contract is a standardized contract, traded on a futures exchange, to buy or sell a certain underlying instrument at a certain date in the future, at a pre-set price. ... In the field of derivatives, a popular form of swap is the interest rate swap, in which one party exchanges a stream of interest for another stream. ... // Interest rate cap An interest rate cap is a derivative in which the buyer receives money at the end of each period in which an interest rate exceeds the agreed strike price. ... An interest rate derivate is a derivative security where the underlying asset is the right to pay or receive a (usually notional) amount of money at a given interest rate. ... Exotic instrument is basically a category of derivatives. ... Treasury Securities are bonds issued by the U.S. Treasury, and sold by the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC. They are the debt finance instruments of the Federal government, and are often referred to as treasuries. ... Commercial paper is a short-term unsecured debt trading as a security issued by large banks and corporations. ... ... A certificate of deposit or CD is, in the United States, a time deposit, a familiar financial product, commonly offered to consumers by banks, thrift institutions, and credit unions. ... An Interest Rate Future is a futures contract with an interest bearing instrument as the underlying asset. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... See stock (disambiguation) for other meanings of the term stock In financial terminology, stock is the capital raised by a corporation, through the issuance and sale of shares. ... In finance, an option is a contract whereby one party (the holder or buyer) has the right but not the obligation to exercise a feature of the contract (the option) on or before a future date (the exercise date or expiry). ... In finance, a futures contract is a standardized contract, traded on a futures exchange, to buy or sell a certain underlying instrument at a certain date in the future, at a pre-set price. ... In finance, an option is a contract whereby one party (the holder or buyer) has the right but not the obligation to exercise a feature of the contract (the option) on or before a future date (the exercise date or expiry). ... Exotic instrument is basically a category of derivatives. ... A currency is a unit of exchange, facilitating the transfer of goods and services. ... If you are trading FX Spot you are buying one currency with a different currency for immediate delivery and not future delivery. ... A currency future, also FX future or foreign exchange future, is a futures contract to exchange one currency for another at a specified date in the future at a price (exchange rate) that is fixed on the last trading date. ... In finance, an option is a contract whereby one party (the holder or buyer) has the right but not the obligation to exercise a feature of the contract (the option) on or before a future date (the exercise date or expiry). ... A forward contract is an agreement between two parties to buy or sell an asset (which can be of any kind) at a pre-agreed future point in time. ... A Forex swap is an over the counter short term interest rate derivative instrument. ... A currency swap is a foreign exchange agreement between two parties to exchange a given amount of one currency for another and, after a specified period of time, to give back the original amounts swapped. ... Repurchase agreements (RPs or Repos) are financial instruments used in the money markets. ...