A financial security (equity security, debt security, hybrid security) that is acquired for the purpose of selling it before its maturity date. The main intent from holdings of such securities is to benefit from the difference between the original price and the sale price. In accounting, available-for-sale securities are reported at fair value. Unrealized gains and losses are recorded in an entity’s accumulated other comprehensive income (AOCI)- within the equity section of the statement of financial position (balance sheet).

Such marketable securities include non-trading equity investment securities (whose fair value cannot be reliably measured or estimated, and where an entity opts to not carry at FVTPL), non-trading quoted debt investment securities (where an entity neither intends to hold to maturity nor seeks to carry at FVTPL), and debt securities that an entity intends to hold to maturity, but for practical reasons it cannot, such as the case of a tainted portfolio which results in a time-out ban).