What does “the Street” mean in finance?

“The Street” means Wall Street, and Wall Street means the securities industry: the investment banks, brokers, funds and exchanges, taken together as if they were one opinion. When a banker says “the Street expects” a company to earn a certain amount, or a report cites a “Street estimate”, the word refers to the firms and analysts who trade and follow the stock, not to an address. The address exists too, and the phrase began there.

The two meanings

A standard finance dictionary gives both. First, Wall Street is the common name for the financial district at the lower end of Manhattan in New York City, where the stock exchanges and numerous brokerage firms are headquartered; the exchange itself stands at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets. Second, it is the investment community, as in “Wall Street really likes the prospects for that company” or a “Wall Street law firm”, meaning one that specialises in securities law and mergers, and in this sense it is also called “the Street”[1Source 1John Downes and Jordan Elliot Goodman, Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms, 10th ed. (Barron’s, 2018), “Wall Street”, pp. 694–695.]. A textbook of the industry traces the exchange to an agreement made on the street itself: in May 1792 two dozen brokers and merchants agreed to trade securities on commission, under a buttonwood tree outside a house on Wall Street[2Source 2Michel Fleuriet, Investment Banking Explained: An Insider’s Guide to the Industry (McGraw-Hill, 2008), “The Origins of Investment Banking”.].

An ethnographer who studied the industry notes how far the word has stretched. Wall Street is an actual street, a metaphor for capitalism, and a shorthand for a culture; what the phrase covers has grown with the industry, from the investment banks at its centre to asset managers, hedge funds, pension and mutual funds, private equity firms and the exchanges[3Source 3Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), the introduction, pp. 5–6, and its first note.]. Her own study focused on the investment banks and, within them, on corporate finance and mergers, which the industry calls “investment banking proper”[4Source 4Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), introduction, pp. 5–6.].

Sell side and buy side

Inside the phrase is a division that every finance student needs. The sell side is the firms that sell securities and services: the investment banks and brokers that underwrite offerings, execute trades and publish research. The buy side is the institutions that buy: pension funds, mutual funds, insurers, hedge funds and other money managers. A footnote in a finance research collection states it in one line: sell-side analysts are the securities analysts employed by banks and brokerage firms, and buy-side analysts are those employed by institutional investment firms such as pension funds, mutual funds and insurance companies[5Source 5Roni Michaely and Kent L. Womack, “Market Efficiency and Biases in Brokerage Recommendations”, in Richard H. Thaler (ed.), Advances in Behavioral Finance, Volume II (Russell Sage Foundation and Princeton University Press, 2005), ch. 11, first footnote.]. A textbook adds that research is called sell-side when it is provided to a bank’s investing clients and buy-side when it is produced for a fund’s own managers[6Source 6David P. Stowell, Investment Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity, 3rd ed. (Academic Press, 2017), ch. 6, “Research”, pp. 150–151.]. The ethnography draws the same line from the inside: the buy side is the institutional investors and money managers who buy large amounts of securities for their own or clients’ portfolios, and who decide what to buy partly on the marketing and research of the banks’ sell side; and the buy side, she adds, is part of Wall Street too[7Source 7Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), ch. 3, notes 29 and 30, p. 341.].

For a student choosing a first job the division is the map. Investment banking, sales and tradingInvestment banking vs sales and trading: what is the difference?The investment banking division advises companies on deals; the sales and trading division buys and sells securities for big funds. Two floors, two jobs.One field against another · revised 28 September 2026 · 806 words · 7 sources · 4 min and equity researchInvestment banking vs equity research: what is the difference?Equity research analysts study listed companies and publish ratings for fund clients; bankers do deals for companies. Why a wall keeps the two apart.One field against another · revised 28 September 2026 · 852 words · 11 sources · 4 min are the sell side; hedge fundsInvestment banking vs hedge funds: what is the difference?A hedge fund is a private pool of money that trades securities for a fee and a share of the gains; investment banking advises companies and makes markets.One field against another · revised 28 September 2026 · 828 words · 11 sources · 4 min, private equity and asset management are the buy side.

How the word is used

“The Street” is usually a consensus or a mood. The ethnography quotes a fund manager: “the Street is not totally stupid”, meaning the market knows when a company’s reported quarter is not the peak of its earnings[7Source 7Karen Ho, Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street (Duke University Press, 2009), ch. 3, notes 29 and 30, p. 341.]. A value investor’s book uses the phrase for the industry’s incentives, describing Wall Street’s three principal activities as trading, investment banking and merchant banking, and warning that what is good for the Street is not always good for its customers, because it is paid up front, for what it does rather than how well[8Source 8Seth A. Klarman, Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor (HarperBusiness, 1991), ch. 2, “The Nature of Wall Street Works Against Investors”, pp. 18–21.]. Both uses treat the Street as a single actor with interests, which is the sense the word has carried since it stopped being only a place.

Frequently asked questions

Is “the Street” the same as Wall Street?

Yes. “The Street” is the short form, used in the second of the dictionary’s two senses: the investment community, rather than the financial district in lower Manhattan where the name comes from[1Source 1John Downes and Jordan Elliot Goodman, Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms, 10th ed. (Barron’s, 2018), “Wall Street”, pp. 694–695.].

What is the difference between the sell side and the buy side?

The sell side is the banks and brokerage firms, whose research is written for clients; the buy side is the institutions that buy securities, such as pension funds, mutual funds, insurers and hedge funds[5Source 5Roni Michaely and Kent L. Womack, “Market Efficiency and Biases in Brokerage Recommendations”, in Richard H. Thaler (ed.), Advances in Behavioral Finance, Volume II (Russell Sage Foundation and Princeton University Press, 2005), ch. 11, first footnote.][6Source 6David P. Stowell, Investment Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity, 3rd ed. (Academic Press, 2017), ch. 6, “Research”, pp. 150–151.].

What does “Street estimate” mean?

The consensus of the securities analysts who follow a company. The dictionary’s own entry for “Street” glosses “the Street likes” a stock as a national consensus among securities analysts that its prospects are favourable, and a Street estimate is that consensus as a number[9Source 9John Downes and Jordan Elliot Goodman, Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms, 10th ed. (Barron’s, 2018), “Street”, pp. 603–604.].

@misc{xlsxdev-2026-the-street,
  author       = {{xlsx.dev}},
  title        = {{What does “the Street” mean in finance?}},
  howpublished = {xlsx.dev Wiki},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = sep,
  url          = {https://xlsx.dev/wiki/the-street}
}