what is sell side 
sell side is the part of the financial industry that is involved with the creation promotion and sale of stocks bonds foreign exchange and other financial instruments to the public market the sell side can also include private capital market instruments such as private placements of debt and equity sell side individuals and firms work to create and service products that are made available to the buy side of the financial industry the sell side of wall street includes investment bankers who serve as intermediaries between issuers of securities and the investing public and the market makers who provide liquidity in the public market investment bankers and corporate finance advisors play the same role for private issues of debt and equity understanding sell sidethe sell side and buy side of wall street are two sides of the same coin one is dependent upon the other and could not operate without the other the sell side tries to get the highest price possible for each financial instrument while providing insight and analysis on each of these financial assets buy side players in the public market include money managers at hedge funds institutional firms mutual funds and pension funds individual investors are technically on the buy side in the private market private equity funds vc funds and venture arms of corporations investing in startups are on the buy side however the term mostly applies to professional money managers on the sell side of the equation are the market makers who are the driving force of the financial market for example any individual or firm that purchases stock to sell it later at a profit is from the buy side foreign exchange sell sidethe fx market is the world s largest financial marketplace with more than an estimated 6 6 trillion changing hands daily as of 2019 here the sell side is dominated by top multinational banks led by jp morgan chase citibank deutsche bank and ubs bank trading rooms are divided into two groups many interbank traders take proprietary positions but salespeople generally do not bond market sell sidethe global bond market is the world s second largest financial marketplace with an estimated value of over 100 trillion the u s bond market is estimated to be valued at approximately slightly over 40 trillion investment banks dominate the sell side with the largest being goldman sachs and morgan stanley jp morgan chase and bank of america which combine commercial and investment banks under a single holding company underwrite and manage bond issues many are also primary dealers of u s treasury bonds which means that they buy directly from the u s treasury the investment banks are very active both trading and taking positions in the bond market stock market sell sideinvestment banks also dominate the sell side of the stock market they underwrite stock issuance take proprietary positions and sell to both institutional and individual investors one of the most high profile activities of the sell side in the stock market is in initial public offerings ipos of stocks companies can t go public themselves they must enlist the services of an investment bank for underwriting underwriters are typically brokers who act as a buffer between companies and the investing public and who market and sell those initial shares example of sell sidea wealthy individual worth millions of dollars is looking to invest a significant portion of his capital he heads to an investment bank for some options the private wealth management division of the investment bank takes a look at the individual s assets and risk tolerance and comes up with an investment strategy for the individual as well as certain financial products they can sell to him the individual takes on the business of the investment bank paying it commissions and fees for managing his money the business that the investment bank has offered the wealthy individual is considered the sell side of the business as it is selling to the client services and financial products 