Top holdings are the biggest investment assets held by companies or individuals. This concept is also used in the development of stock market indexes, most of which use the top holdings on a market to compile information about market conditions. The percentage of total investments made up by such holdings varies, depending on a number of factors, but it can be quite large.
When looking at mutual funds, investments made by individual people, and the investment assets held by corporations, the top holdings can be revealing. People tend to invest heavily in assets central to their investment strategy and examining investments provides insight into how people are planning and conducting their investments. Top holdings can also be used to judge the future performance and stability of investments. A fund with heavy investments in one sector, for example, is vulnerable to volatility in that sector and might lose value when compared with a fund using diversification in its investment planning.
In the case of stock market indexes, many indexes list the biggest stocks on a market, like the biggest 300, 500, or 1,000 companies. These companies are the top holdings in their markets and the lists can be broken down to see how much companies at the top of the list are worth. Companies at the very top tend to be extremely large and can make up a significant percentage of the overall value of the market. People interested in market performance look at these holdings to see what direction the market is likely to move in.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is an example of a stock market index based on top holdings, using the performance of these companies to make projections about the market as a whole. One risk with indexes is the fact that individual companies can skew results. Indexes are usually weighted to reduce the risk of appearing volatile when a small group of companies is experiencing problems. The formulas used for weighting vary depending on the index, and information is often provided about the process used to give investors a clear picture of what they are looking at.
Big companies with a proven track record listed among top holdings can be sound investments, although it is still important to spread investments out to reduce risks. Top holdings tend to be reliable and steady earners, providing fewer opportunities for profit than smaller and more volatile stocks, but offering the assurance of an established history of good returns.