#Liquidity101 Liquidity 101 refers to the basic understanding of liquidity in financial contexts. Here's a simple breakdown:
🔹 What is Liquidity?
Liquidity is how easily and quickly an asset can be converted into cash without significantly affecting its price.
🔹 Types of Liquidity
Market Liquidity
Refers to the ease of buying or selling assets in a market.
Highly liquid markets: stocks of large companies, forex.
Illiquid markets: rare collectibles, real estate.
Accounting (or Balance Sheet) Liquidity
Refers to a company’s ability to meet short-term obligations using its liquid assets.
Common ratios:
Current Ratio = Current Assets / Current Liabilities
Quick Ratio = (Current Assets - Inventory) / Current Liabilities
🔹 Examples of Liquid Assets
Highly liquid: Cash, checking accounts, publicly traded stocks.
Less liquid: Real estate, equipment, art.
Illiquid: Private equity, complex financial derivatives.
🔹 Why Liquidity Matters
For individuals: You want to ensure you can access cash in emergencies.
For businesses: Sufficient liquidity is critical to avoid defaulting on obligations.
For markets: Liquidity affects volatility and pricing efficiency.
🔹 Risks of Low Liquidity
Can't sell quickly without a loss.
Can lead to a liquidity crisis if many parties want to exit positions at once (e.g., 2008 financial crisis).
If you'd like a deeper dive into liquidity ratios, central bank liquidity injections, or crypto liquidity pools, let me know!