What Is Floating Stock?

什么是流通股？

Floating stock is the number of shares available for trading of a particular stock. Low float stocks are those with a low number of shares. Floating stock is calculated by subtracting closely-held shares and restricted stock from a firm’s total outstanding shares.

流通股是指可用于特定股票交易的股票数量。低流通股是指股份数量少的股票。流通股的计算方法是从公司的总流通股中减去少数人持有的股票和限制性股票。

Closely-held shares are those owned by insiders, major shareholders, and employees. Restricted stock refers to insider shares that cannot be traded because of a temporary restriction, such as the lock-up period after an initial public offering (IPO).

少数人持股是指由内部人士、主要股东和员工持有的股份。限制性股票是指由于临时限制(如首次公开发行(IPO)后的锁定期)而不能交易的内部人士股票。

A stock with a small float will generally be more volatile than a stock with a large float. This is because, with fewer shares available, it may be harder to find a buyer or seller. This results in larger spreads and often lower volume.

浮动性小的流通股通常比浮动性大的流通股更不稳定。这是因为，随着可用股票的减少，找到买家或卖家可能会更加困难。这导致了更大的价差和更低的交易量。

Understanding Floating Stock

关于流通股

A company may have a large number of shares outstanding, but limited floating stock. For example, assume a company has 50 million shares outstanding. Of that 50 million shares, large institutions own 35 million shares, management and insiders own 5 million, and the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) holds 2 million shares. Floating stock is therefore only 8 million shares (50 million shares minus 42 million shares), or 16% of the outstanding shares.

一家公司可能有大量发行在外的股票，但流通股数量有限。例如，假设一家公司有5000万股发行在外的股票。在这5000万股中，大机构持有3500万股，管理层和内部人士持有500万股，员工持股计划(ESOP)持有200万股。因此，流通股仅为800万股(5000万股减去4200万股)，占发行在外股票的16%。

The amount of a company’s floating stock may rise or fall over time. This can occur for a variety of reasons. For example, a company may sell additional shares to raise more capital, which then increases the floating stock. If restricted or closely-held shares become available, then the floating stock will also increase.

一家公司的流通股数量可能会随着时间的推移而上升或下降。这可能是由多种原因造成的。例如，一家公司可能会出售额外的股票来筹集更多的资本，这就增加了流通股。如果限制性股票或少数人持股变得可以获得，那么流通股也会增加。

Why Floating Stock Is Important

流通股的重要性

A company's float is an important number for investors because it indicates how many shares are actually available to be bought and sold by the general investing public. Low float is typically an impediment to active trading. This lack of trading activity can make it difficult for investors to enter or exit positions in stocks that have limited float.

对投资者来说，一家公司的流通股是一个重要的数字，因为它表明了普通投资者实际上可以买卖多少股票。低浮动通常是活跃交易的障碍。这种交易活动的缺乏可能会使投资者难以进入或退出浮动有限的股票头寸。

Institutional investors will often avoid trading in companies with smaller floats because there are fewer shares to trade, thus leading to limited liquidity and wider bid-ask spreads. Instead, institutional investors (such as mutual funds, pension funds, and insurance companies) that buy large blocks of stock will look to invest in companies with a larger float. If they invest in companies with a big float, their large purchases will not impact the share price as much.

机构投资者通常会避免与流通股较少的公司交易，因为可供交易的股票较少，从而导致流动性有限和买卖价差扩大。相反，购买大宗股票的机构投资者(如共同基金、养老基金和保险公司)会投资于拥有更大流通股的公司。如果他们投资于股票浮动较大的公司，他们的大量购买不会对股价产生太大的影响。

Special Considerations

特殊考量

A company is not responsible for how shares within the float are traded by the public—this is a function of the secondary market. Therefore, shares that are purchased, sold, or even shorted by investors do not affect the float because these actions do not represent a change in the number of shares available for trade. They simply represent a redistribution of shares. Similarly, the creation and trading of options on a stock do not affect the float.

一家公司不对公众如何交易流通股负责——这是二级市场的功能。因此，投资者购买、出售甚至卖空的股票不会影响流通股，因为这些行为并不代表可交易股票数量的变化。它们只是代表了股份的重新分配。同样，股票期权的创建和交易也不会影响流通股。

Example of Floating Stock

流通股的例子

As of September 2023, General Electric (GE) had 1.088 billion shares outstanding. Of this, 0.20% were held by insiders and 75.81% were held by large institutions. Therefore, a total of 76% or 830 million shares were likely not available for public trading. The floating stock is therefore about 260 million shares (1.088 billion - 830 million).

截至2023年9月，通用电气(GE)有10.88亿股发行在外的股票。其中0.20%由内部人士持有，75.81%由大型机构持有。因此，总共有76%或8.3亿股可能无法公开交易。因此，流通股约为2.6亿股(10.88亿-8.30亿)。

It is important to note that institutions don't hold a stock forever. The institutional ownership number will change regularly, although not always by a significant percentage. Falling institutional ownership coupled with a falling share price could signal that institutions are dumping the shares. Increasing institutional ownership shows that institutions are accumulating shares.

需要注意的是，机构不会永远持有一只股票。机构持股数量会定期变化，尽管并不总是变化很大。机构持股比例下降，加上股价下跌，可能意味着机构正在抛售股票。机构持股增加，说明机构在累积购入股票。

Is Floating Stock Good or Bad?

流通股是好是坏？

Stock float isn't good or bad, but it can affect an investor's decisions. The amount of floating stock a company has—the shares made available to trade—can affect the liquidity of that stock. Stocks with a smaller float tend to have high volatility, while stocks with a larger float tend to have lower volatility. Some investors may prefer stocks with higher float, because it's easier to enter and exit positions for these stocks.

股票浮动没有好坏之分，但它会影响投资者的决策。一家公司拥有的流通股数量——可供交易的股票——会影响该股票的流动性。浮动性较小的股票往往具有高波动性，而浮动性较大的股票往往具有较低的波动性。一些投资者可能更喜欢浮动性较高的股票，因为这些股票更容易进出头寸。

What Is Stock Flotation?

什么是股票浮动？

Stock flotation is when a company issues new shares to the public. It can help the company raise capital. The opposite of stock flotation is a float shrink, such as with stock buybacks: fewer shares are available to trade.

股票浮动是指公司向公众发行新股。它可以帮助公司筹集资金。与股票浮动相反的是浮存缩水，比如股票回购：可供交易的股票减少。

What Is the Difference Between Floating and Non-Floating Shares?

流通股和非流通股的区别是什么？

The floating shares are the shares available to trade, while non-floating shares are those held by shareholders and company insiders and are not available for trading.

流通股是可供交易的股份，而非流通股是由股东和公司内部人士持有且不可供交易的股份。

The Bottom Line

底线

A company's floating stock is the shares it has available to trade on the open market. Traders tend to prefer stocks with larger floats, as they find it easier to enter and exit a stock that has greater liquidity. Stocks with larger floats have more shares available, making them more liquid and easier for investors to buy or sell.

一家公司的流通股是指它可以在公开市场上交易的股票。交易者倾向于更喜欢有更大浮动性的股票，因为他们发现更容易进入和退出有更大流动性的股票。浮动性较大的股票有更多的可用股票，使它们更具流动性，投资者更容易买卖。

（英文来源：Investopedia）