📊 Varlık sınıfları

The second half of this chapter: the tools in your hand. Six main asset classes, from the 400-year-old equity to the 15-year-old cryptocurrency. The tiles below are sorted by typical risk and link directly to the respective section.

Ordinary Shares vs. Preference Shares

Not every share in a company is identical. Most corporations issue only one class — but family-controlled enterprises and US tech companies in particular use different share classes to separate voting rights from capital participation.

German example — Volkswagen: VW3 (preference, WKN 766403) vs. VOW (ordinary, WKN 766400). The Porsche/Piëch family controls the ordinary shares via their holding company, while free float primarily trades preference shares. Both classes trade differently — sometimes with gaps of 10–40%.

US example — Alphabet (Google): GOOGL (Class A, 1 vote), GOOG (Class C, 0 votes), Class B (10 votes, not exchange-listed — founders Brin/Page only). This lets the founders retain control even as their capital stake dilutes. Similar structures: Meta, Snap, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A vs. BRK.B).

Growth vs. Value

The classic equity categorisation by character:

Important: The categorisation is fluid and changes with a company's life stage. Apple was clearly growth in 2010 (iPhone explosion), but today shows value characteristics (stable cash flows, dividend, buybacks). Microsoft managed the transition from value (2005–2014) back to growth (since the cloud pivot).

REITs — Real Estate Investment Trusts

REITs are publicly listed real estate companies with special tax rules. They allow private investors to participate in professionally managed real estate portfolios — without buying a property themselves.

US tax advantage: REITs must distribute at least 90% of their profits to shareholders and therefore pay little corporate tax. This makes them dividend machines.

• Equity REITs: directly own real estate (shopping centres, office complexes, apartments, data centres, cell towers)
• Mortgage REITs (mREITs): invest in real estate mortgage loans — leveraged interest rate business, significantly more volatile than equity REITs

Germany/EU equivalents: G-REITs (less common, only ~5 listed), French SIICs, Dutch FBIs. In Europe, traditional real estate companies (Vonovia, LEG) are more prevalent than true REITs.

Taxation: In Germany, REIT dividends are treated like ordinary equity dividends (flat tax 25% + solidarity surcharge). No partial exemption as with real estate ETFs (30% exempt), but full transparency of individual positions.

Dividend Stocks — What defines them?

Dividend yield = annual dividend / share price. It shows how much cash return per year flows relative to the current price.

Dividend Aristocrats: S&P 500 stocks with 25+ years of uninterrupted dividend growth. Well-known members: Coca-Cola (KO), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Procter & Gamble (PG), 3M (MMM), Colgate-Palmolive (CL). Global alternative as ETF: SPDR S&P Global Dividend Aristocrats (ZPRG).

Dividend Kings: Elite league with 50+ years of uninterrupted increases — currently only about 50 companies worldwide (including Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, 3M, Lowe's, Johnson & Johnson).

💡 In sTraderZ.com you can see the dividend yield of all your equity positions on the statistics page — including cumulative annual distributions.

What is a Bond?

A bond is a loan you give to an issuer — a government, company or bank. In return you receive structured payments over the term and your principal back at the end (provided the issuer remains solvent).

Government Bonds

Governments finance themselves through bonds — the largest, most liquid and most actively traded instruments in the world.

Risk-free rate benchmark: The 10-year US Treasury (US10Y) is the global reference rate. Company valuations, discount rates and risk premiums are oriented towards it.

Corporate Bonds

Companies issue bonds to raise capital — often cheaper than borrowing from banks. The coupon is above that of government bonds of the same maturity (spread = risk premium).

• Investment Grade (IG): Rating AAA to BBB−, lower default probability, lower coupon (2–5%)
• High Yield (HY) / "Junk Bonds": Rating BB+ or below, significantly higher default risk, coupon often 6–12%+

The spread between corporate and government bonds of the same maturity is an important market indicator: when spreads widen (especially HY spreads), risk aversion is rising — typically before recessions.

Rating Agencies

Three major agencies dominate the market: S&P Global Ratings, Moody's and Fitch. They assess the default probability of each issuer.

Coupon Types

• Fixed coupon: fixed interest payment over the entire term (e.g. 4% p.a.) — the classic
• Floating Rate Note (FRN): linked to a reference rate (Euribor + margin, e.g. "3M Euribor + 1.5%")
• Zero coupon (zero bond): no periodic payments; return only from the difference between issue and redemption price (e.g. issued at 70%, redeemed at 100%)

Yield Curve & Duration

The yield curve shows returns by maturity. Normal: longer maturities have higher yields (term premium). Inversion: long yields < short yields — historically a reliable recession indicator (e.g. 10Y–2Y spread inverted in 2022/23, a mild US recession followed in 2024).

Duration = average time to receive cash flows in years, and simultaneously a measure of price sensitivity to interest rate changes.

Rule of thumb: With a duration of 10, the bond price falls by ~10% when interest rates rise by 1 percentage point (and vice versa).

Example — 2022 rate shock: The ETF TLT (20+ year US Treasuries, duration ~17) lost around −30% in 2022 as the Fed raised its policy rate from 0% to 4.5%. Those holding "safe government bonds" experienced a drawdown comparable to equities.

Yield to Maturity (YTM)

The YTM is the internal rate of return if you hold the bond to maturity. It takes into account the purchase price, all coupon payments and the repayment at face value.

• If price < 100: YTM > coupon (you buy below par → additional return at redemption)
• If price > 100: YTM < coupon (you pay above par → loss at redemption eats into the coupon)

Example: Bond with 4% coupon, current price 95, remaining maturity 5 years → YTM approx. 5.2% (4% coupon + ~1% annual price accrual to 100).

Convertible Bonds

A convertible bond is a bond with an embedded call on the issuer's equity. You receive a coupon as with a regular bond — and additionally have the right to convert the bond into a pre-agreed number of shares.

• Conversion ratio and conversion price are contractually fixed
• In an equity rally: upside participation via conversion
• In an equity crash: the debt obligation remains → downside protection through bond floor

MicroStrategy example: Between 2020 and 2024, Michael Saylor's company issued several convertibles with coupons of 0–0.75% to buy Bitcoin. Investors accepted the minimal coupon because the option value on MSTR shares (strongly correlated with BTC) was attractive.

Convertibles are particularly interesting for growth companies: they can borrow more cheaply than with conventional bonds because the embedded call provides upside for the investor.

How do you buy bonds?

• Directly: through your bank or a broker such as Comdirect, IBKR. Denomination often €1,000 face value; corporate bonds sometimes only from €100,000 (institutional trading)
• Bond ETFs: broadly diversified, liquid, small denominations. Well-known tickers: IBTS (US Treasuries 1–3Y), TLT (US Treasuries 20+Y), IEAC (EUR Corporate IG), JNK (US High Yield), HYG (iShares iBoxx High Yield)
• Bond funds: active selection by fund manager, higher fees (0.5–1.5% TER)
• Factor / Target-maturity ETFs: with a defined expiry date (BulletShares by Invesco, iBonds by iShares) — work like real bonds with a fixed maturity

💡 For most retail investors, bond ETFs are more practical than direct bonds — denominations from 1 unit (<€100) instead of €1,000 per bond, no accrued interest to calculate and tax, and reinvestment risk is pooled.

Structured Products — Certificates

Certificates are bearer bonds issued by the issuer (usually a bank). They map specific payout profiles — from simple 1:1 participation to complex barrier structures. The German market is particularly large: issuers such as DZ Bank, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Morgan Stanley and Vontobel offer thousands of products.

Issuer Risk

Certificates are bearer bonds of the issuer — in plain terms: if the issuing bank goes bankrupt, you are among the creditors like any other corporate bond. Your claim depends on the seniority of your debt instrument, not on the value of the underlying asset.

Lehman Brothers 2008: When Lehman filed for bankruptcy on 15 September 2008, all Lehman certificates (sold in Germany as "bonus certificates", "capital-guaranteed certificates" etc.) became almost worthless. Retail investors who had invested in products with a "100% capital guarantee" suffered near-total losses — because the guarantee was issued by Lehman itself.

• Rule of thumb: Check the issuer rating (Deutsche Bank, UBS, Morgan Stanley are typical — all in the A range)
• For comparison: ETFs = Segregated Assets, legally separate from the fund company's assets → no total loss in the event of insolvency
• COSI certificates (collateralised): Swiss speciality, collateral held at SIX reduces issuer risk

Leveraged Certificates in Practice

Knock-out certificates and mini-futures are the most popular leveraged products for German retail investors. How they work — an example:

Example — Knock-out Long on DAX:

• DAX level: 18,000 points
• KO certificate with base price 17,000 → leverage approx. 18×
• If DAX falls to 17,000: KO event, certificate expires worthless, total loss of capital used
• If DAX rises to 19,000: certificate value doubles (+100%)

❌ Typical Pitfalls with Certificates

• ❌ Opaque fees: Issuer spread (1–3%) + swap/financing costs + management fee + possibly custody costs → often 5%+ total costs per year, scattered throughout the product brochure
• ❌ Barrier set too close: A bonus certificate with a −20% barrier sounds safe — but in highly volatile markets (e.g. single stocks with 40%+ IV) it is regularly a barrier-breach candidate
• ❌ Complex structures not understood: Express certificates with reverse-split clauses, worst-of constructs on 3 stocks, autocall mechanisms — if you cannot explain the payout profile in one sentence, do not buy it
• ❌ Adding after barrier breach: Averaging down in hope of recovery — usually doesn't work because the protective feature of the product is gone and you are effectively holding the underlying with higher costs
• ✅ Alternative: For leveraged exposure → options (more transparent, more liquid). For participation → ETF (cheaper, no issuer risk). For downside protection → protective put.

💡 If a certificate is recommended to you by an adviser — read the KID (Key Information Document). Toys with SRI 7 (Summary Risk Indicator) are rarely what your portfolio needs. Products with SRI 1–3 are generally defensive; SRI 6–7 are leveraged or capital-reduced instruments.