Every position in Parqet has two attributes that together describe what you own:
The product type tells you how you invest — that is, through which vehicle. A single stock, an ETF, a traditional fund or a certificate.
The asset class tells you what you invest in — that is, what is ultimately behind the position. For example stocks, bonds, commodities or cash.
For many positions, both are the same: an Apple share has the product type Stock and belongs to the asset class Stock. It gets interesting wherever the two differ — and that is exactly why they are kept separate.
Key points at a glance
The product type is the vehicle you invest through (stock, ETF, ETC, fund, real estate …).
The asset class is what’s behind it (stock, bond, cash, real estate, cryptocurrency, commodity, other).
A gold ETC is a security but counts toward the asset class Commodity. A money market ETF counts toward the asset class Cash.
You’ll find both in Analysis under Allocation and as a filter in the dashboard.
You don’t need to do anything — all your positions are classified automatically.
Product type: how you invest
The product type describes the wrapper you invest through. It replaces what used to be called security type and is much more consistent: instead of many similar names (EUR bond, bond, convertible bond …), there are now clear product types.
These include, among others:
Stock, Bond
ETF, ETC, ETN, Fund
Certificate, Warrant, Knock-out
Cash holding, Cryptocurrency, Commodity, Real estate
Private equity, P2P, Insurance, Material asset, Other
Asset class: what you invest in
The asset class describes which investment is behind the position — and therefore also what risk it carries. Stocks and bonds are both securities, but they behave completely differently. If you build your portfolio from a higher-risk and a lower-risk part, you want to be able to tell exactly these apart.
There are seven asset classes:
Stock
Bond
Cash
Real estate
Cryptocurrency
Commodity
Other
If a position has no classification, Parqet counts it as Other in the allocation. It only appears as Unclassified if it is explicitly marked that way.
Why two attributes?
Because the wrapper is often something different from its contents. Four typical cases:
A gold ETC is legally a security. But what you’re invested in is gold. Product type ETC, asset class Commodity. In the analysis, it therefore ends up together with your physical gold.
A money market ETF is an ETF but works like an instant-access savings account. Product type ETF, asset class Cash.
A bond ETF is an ETF but holds bonds. Product type ETF, asset class Bond.
A real estate ETF is an ETF but tracks the real estate market. Product type ETF, asset class Real estate — just like an apartment you’ve added yourself.
Without this separation, all four end up in the same bucket as “security” — and your analysis becomes much less precise.
Where to find it
In Analysis: Use the left sidebar to go to Analysis. Under Allocation, you can analyze your portfolio by asset class, product type and other criteria.
As a filter in the dashboard: With Add filter, you can filter by Asset class and Product type to show just one part of your portfolio. If you save the filter, it becomes a view. More on this: Views.
Why is my dashboard grouped differently?
Your dashboard still groups positions the way you add them: Securities, Cryptocurrencies, Physical Precious Metals, Real Estate, Other Assets (this also includes P2P and insurance) and Cash. So a gold ETC still appears there under your securities, even though it counts toward the asset class Commodity in the analysis.
This isn’t a contradiction but intentional: the dashboard sorts by how you add and manage a position. The asset class, on the other hand, describes what is actually behind it.
Examples
Position | Product type | Asset class |
Apple (US0378331005) | Stock | Stock |
iShares Core MSCI World (IE00B4L5Y983) | ETF | Stock |
Vanguard Global Aggregate Bond (IE00BG47KB92) | ETF | Bond |
Xtrackers II EUR Overnight Rate Swap (LU0290358497) | ETF | Cash |
Euwax Gold II (DE000EWG2LD7) | ETC | Commodity |
21Shares Crypto Basket Index ETP (CH0445689208) | ETN | Cryptocurrency |
Bitcoin | Cryptocurrency | Cryptocurrency |
Real estate you added yourself | Real estate | Real estate |
iShares Developed Markets Property Yield (IE00B1FZS350) | ETF | Real estate |
UniImmo: Deutschland (DE0009805507) | Fund | Real estate |
Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity (IE00BMVB5R75) | ETF | 80% Stock, 20% Bond |
What about products that mix several asset classes?
Some products can’t be assigned to a single asset class — for example a Vanguard LifeStrategy ETF, which combines stocks and bonds, or a multi-asset fund such as Flossbach von Storch Multiple Opportunities. Parqet splits these products proportionally across several asset classes: a Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity, for example, counts 80% toward the asset class Stock and 20% toward the asset class Bond.
You can still find them by product type, of course: the LifeStrategy ETF remains an ETF, the multi-asset fund a Fund.
The classification is wrong for me — what can I do?
We continuously add to and refine the classifications — so a position may not be classified correctly for you yet. You can suggest a correction directly: open the holding in question and click Suggest change at the top right (on the web, for securities and cryptocurrencies). You’ll also find this option in the “⋯” menu.
We review the suggestion and apply it centrally — so the correction benefits all users.
Do I need to change anything myself?
No. All existing positions are classified automatically, so you don’t need to update anything. Nothing changes for you when adding an activity either — the process stays the same.