Market risk and specific risk are two different forms of risk that affect assets. All investment assets can be separated by two categories: systematic risk and unsystematic risk. Market risk, or systematic risk, affects a large number of asset classes, whereas specific risk, or unsystematic risk, only affects an industry or particular company.
Systematic risk is the risk of losing investments due to factors, such as political risk and macroeconomic risk, that affect the performance of the overall market. Market risk is also known as volatility and can be measured using beta. Beta is a measure of an investment's systematic risk relative to the overall market.
Market risk cannot be mitigated through portfolio diversification. However, an investor can hedge against systematic risk. A hedge is an offsetting investment used to reduce the risk in an asset. For example, suppose an investor fears a global recession affecting the economy over the next six months due to weakness in gross domestic product growth. The investor is long multiple stocks and can mitigate some of the market risk by buying put options in the market.
Source : Investopedia
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