Open-end mutual fund

Most mutual funds are open-end funds. This means they issue and redeem shares on a continuous basis, and grow or shrink in response to investor demand for their shares.

Open-end mutual funds trade at their net asset value (NAV), and if the fund has a front-end sales charge, that sales charge is added to the NAV to determine the selling price.

NAV is the value of the fund's investments, plus money awaiting investment, minus operating expenses, divided by the number of outstanding shares.

An open-end fund is the opposite of a closed-end fund, which issues shares only once. After selling its initial shares, a closed-end fund is listed on a securities market and trades like stock. The sponsor of the fund is not involved in those transactions.

However, an open-end fund may be closed to new investors at the discretion of the fund management, usually because the fund has grown very large.