Financial Instrument

AKA: Marketable/Tradable Security.
Context:
- It can range from being a Debt Instrument to being an Equity Instrument to being a Derivative Instrument.
- It can range from being a Slightly-LiquidFinancial Asset to being a Highly-Liquid Financial Instrument (traded in a security exchange marketplace)
Example(s):
- a Tradable Stock, such as a Google Stock.
- a Debt Instrument, such as a tradable bond or commercial paper.
- a Commodity-based Security, such as ...
- …
Counter-Example(s):
- a Non-Tradable Security, such as a Preferred Share or a Private Placement Bond.
- a Gold Bullion.
- a Currency, such as cash.
See: Government Investment, Debenture, Profit-Sharing Agreement, Royalties, Lease, Collateral (Finance), Trust Certificate (Finance), Investment, Stock Market, Bond Market, Tranche.

References

(Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_instrument Retrieved:2014-6-23.
- A financial instrument is a tradable asset of any kind; either cash, evidence of an ownership interest in an entity, or a contractual right to receive or deliver cash or another financial instrument.
  According to IAS 32 and 39, it is defined as "any contract that gives rise to a financial asset of one entity and a financial liability or equity instrument of another entity". ^[1]

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/financialinstrument.asp
- QUOTE: A real or virtual document representing a legal agreement involving some sort of monetary value. In today's financial marketplace, financial instruments can be classified generally as equity based, representing ownership of the asset, or debt based, representing a loan made by an investor to the owner of the asset. Foreign exchange instruments comprise a third, unique type of instrument. Different subcategories of each instrument type exist, such as preferred share equity and common share equity, for example. …
  … Financial instruments can be thought of as easily tradeable packages of capital, each having their own unique characteristics and structure. The wide array of financial instruments in today's marketplace allows for the efficient flow of capital amongst the world's investors.