What Market or Markets do You Trade?
Most traders basically fall into a market when they get started. They generally don’t give it a whole heck of a lot of conscious thought, which is a bit unfortunate. Trading success is largely contingent upon finding your niche as a trader. Part of doing so is finding the right market for you. Unfortunately, a lot of folks skip the step of researching their alternatives and jump into the first market that grabs their attention.
For the largest number of people the stock market is that first focal point. There’s a good reason for this. Equities are pretty easy to understand on a conceptual basis. It’s ownership of something. Granted, it’s not the same as owning something physical, but it is ownership which lets us think in terms of assets. Furthermore, for most of us our retirement plans are tied in with the stock market in some fashion, so we are almost forced to be a part of it all. And with the rapid growth of ETFs, it’s becoming easier and easier for traders to do what they want through the stock market.
These days, the forex market comes in the second slot. That definitely wouldn’t have been the case a decade ago, but the barriers to entry have come way down. Now pretty much anyone with a computer and an internet connection, and without much money, can trade currencies. Forex is a bit more complicated than stocks, though, and not for everyone.
There’s also the notorious futures market. One upon a time we would have just called it the commodities market, but it’s been a long time since commodities were the focus. Now you can trade just about anything you can think of through futures. Of course these days Gold and Oil get a lot of public attention, but stock indices and the Treasury market are extremely active in the futures market. While leverage in futures is similar to that of forex, the barriers to entry are a bit higher, making it somewhat less attractive for the beginner.
I myself have traded all of the above. Like so many folks, I too started in the stock market. I did dabble in futures at an early date, but it wasn’t until later when I had more capital that I really started to trade them more actively. When my professional career exposed me to forex, I shortly thereafter became an active trader of that market as well. These days my main focus is US stocks and forex.
What is the story of how you got into the market(s) you currently trade?
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