This paper compares the capability of investor's type (institutional vs individual investors) and of application value (large vs. small investors) to proxy for the information asymmetry among investors in IPOs. The results show that application value IS a better information proxy than investor's type. We also examine the relative merit of investor's type and application value as an information proxy in explaining the initial profit in both application and allocation schedules. Empirical results show that application value has a stronger explanative power than investor's type in both application and allocation schedules. Moreover, application schedule has a stronger explanative power than allocation schedule in explaining initial profits.