• Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Policy
  • Guest Post
  • Archive

One Cent At A Time

A Personal finance blog to get rich

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Beautiful Life
  • Becoming Rich
  • Beginners Guide
  • Extra Income
  • Productivity
  • Saving Money

Forex Trading vs Stock Trading – Where to Expect Higher Return

July 14, 2012 4 Comments

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email

Few months back I talked about forex trading, here is a guest post which compares Forex trading with stock trading. I am personally not a big fan of either. I am better off with index funds and mutual funds. Enjoy the post if you have risk appetite for trading.

Forex trading chart

Forex trading chart

Forex trading and stock trading are two different forms of financial trading. They may both represent two different ways to make money from the financial markets, but they have some subtle differences which may or may not work in the trader’s favor.

These points can make the difference between trading success and trading failure. So what are the advantages and disadvantages of forex trading when compared with stock trading? The following points will shed more light on this.

Forex Trading or Stock trading, where should your priority be?

Following pros and cons are in terms of forex trading.

Pros

  1. The forex market is an extremely liquid market and the high liquidity of the market ensures that there trade orders will be fulfilled at the order prices most of the time. The stock markets are not as liquid and instances of orders not being fulfilled at the order prices tend to occur more commonly here.
  2. In forex, traders can make money in both directions. All that is needed is to accurately predict the direction of the currency asset and enter either long if it is going up, or short if it is going down. The risk profile for a long or short trade is equal in forex. In stocks, the predominant way of making money is when the price of the asset is going up. The only way to make money from falling stock prices is by short selling, a highly risky form of trading which is severely restricted by the regulatory agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission or (equivalent bodies in other countries).
  3. In forex, traders have unrestricted access to both long and short positions due to the fact that there is no structural bias. It is therefore possible for a forex trader to open a counter position on a trade which is performing poorly in order to create a simple hedge for the position. This is not the case in stocks, as short selling produces a structural bias causing it to be severely restricted and even banned in certain circumstances, leaving traders exposed with few ways of hedging such positions.
  4. Forex trading is a 24 hour market, and this presents more trading opportunities for the trader to profit than the stock market. The stock markets are only open at certain hours of the day and this puts a limitation on when the trader can trade for money.
  5. How about the concept of insider trading? Having privileged, unpublicized knowledge about a stock and using this to profit from the share price is highly frowned on in the stock market; indeed it is even an economic crime. In forex, the concept of insider trading is hardly obtainable as the market is usually too large for any one person or entity to affect a currency’s movement.
  6.  The forex market is more highly leveraged than the stock market. This allows forex traders to hold significantly larger positions with a smaller amount of money, and can potentially allow the trader to make more money than from a corresponding amount in stocks. Leverage for forex in the US is 1:50 while most stock brokers give a maximum stock trading leverage of 1:4.
  7. Traders can start trading forex with less money than in the stock market. It is possible to start trading forex with as little as $100, but even a discount stock brokerage will require at least $500 for unleveraged stock accounts and $2,000 for margin accounts.
  8. The cost of trading forex is less than the cost of trading stocks. This is because the only fees that traders pay in forex are the spreads of the currency. There are no commissions (except in an ECN environment). In contrast, traders pay a variety of commissions when trading stocks.

Cons

  1. The forex market is extremely volatile and it is a lot easier to lose money trading forex than when trading stocks.
  2. There is a wide assortment of factors that affect the movement of a currency and this may make it difficult for traders who have little forex market experience to trade profitably. In contrast, the factors that affect stock price movement are simpler to understand and can be more easily used to pick out profitable trade opportunities.
  3. The higher leverage that is obtainable in the forex market exposes traders to the real potential of sustaining greater losses than in the stock market.
  4. No tangible asset is purchased in forex trading. As such, it is possible for a position to become totally worthless. In contrast, a stock bought with unleveraged funds is a tangible asset and hardly becomes worthless (except for bankruptcy). Thus a stock owner can afford to wait for the value of his stock to pick up even after a massive drop in value.

These are some of the pros and cons when a comparative analysis of forex trading and stocks trading is carried out. The essence of such an analysis is for intending traders to look at the positives and negatives of any form of investment they want to engage in before taking the leap. This way, they can be better prepared and won’t encounter any surprises.

Guest post by Joaquin Monfort who is a financial analyst and currently works as a technical and fundamental analyst for Forex4you. He could be found blogging about forex tips, research and trading strategy on blog Inside Forex trading.

LIKE THIS POST?
I agree to have my personal information transfered to MailChimp ( more information )
Join our community of 8000+ subscribers to increase your net worth and build wealth
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
The tool that changed the way I manage my personal finance - Personal Capital, The Best Free Personal Finance Tool

Want to start a WordPress blog now? The onecentatatime.com blog is hosted by Siteground Web Hosting. For only $3.95 a month, Siteground can help you set up and host your website/blog quickly and easily.

About the Blogger Hi I am SB, a personal finance enthusiast with a career in software development. I am an immigrant to the USA since 2005, after being born and brought up in India. This 40 something technocrat lives and breathes personal finance whenever he gets time from the day job, job as a husband and a dad

Some links on this page may be affiliate links, if you make a purchase following the links, I may earn a commission. Read affiliate disclosure here
« Save Money on Summer Hotel Cost and Enjoy Post Vacation Days
15 Ways to Reduce summer Energy Consumption »

Comments

  1. LaTisha says

    July 15, 2012 at 11:55 AM

    Great posts on the similarities and differences. Number 3 is incorrect for U.S. traders though. We are not allowed to hedge and opening a long position would close and equal amount of short positions.
    I like forex trading for the ease of pricing (the spread is the only trading cost) and the volume and volatility. I see it more as fun than investing. But after losing a lot of money I learned to become a much more profitable trader. I think it teaches you to control your emotions more.
    So far I’m doing ok, still up about 44% since inception but I haven’t done much trading this year.

    Reply
  2. ecn forex broker says

    April 9, 2013 at 10:05 PM

    Seeing Depth of Market – Best available bid/ask prices and market volume.

    Reply
  3. Randy Cunningham says

    May 6, 2013 at 10:12 AM

    SB – great article on Forex vs. Stock Trading…

    Really informative and great for my situation.

    Just a quick story on my situation – I sold my electronics company in New York and have been investing in different real estate and business ventures over the past several years. I have been very successful investing in mobile home parks and apartment complexes as a limited partner. Unfortunately, my passive business investments have not had the same success. On the positive side, I have learned a great deal in my mistakes in these types of ventures and I am ready to get back on the horse and try again.

    I have also had an interest in the day trading market as well. I have been researching this industry over the past several years spending a lot of time and money to try to find a system or mentor that has consistently made profits and is for real. Unfortunately, the only thing I learned is that it is a jungle out there and about 80 to 90% of day traders lose money. Main reasons below:

    It is obvious to me at this point that it takes a lot of education and experience to be in that rare10-20% of day traders that can be consistently profitable after transaction costs and taxes. Although the odds are against me, I am still hoping to find that elusive Holy Grail since it would fit perfectly into my semi retired life style. I was hoping you could help. Do you know or have experience with any system or mentor out there that has shown consistent profits over time and can actually prove it?

    I would appreciate any feedback you can give me.

    Randy Cunningham [email protected]

    Reply
  4. william says

    May 23, 2013 at 9:04 PM

    forex market is the riskies business the central bank will wipe out your account before you know
    central bank dont play game forex trader are expose to big big financial institution that you will not have not even 000000.01 % of the money to go agains them

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.



Create your own blog in 20 minutes and $20

Personal Capital, a free tool to change your financial health today

I use and suggest Upstart, for your personal loan need

CreditKarma, a free tool to check your credit scorey

I use Coinbase, for my crypto investments

101 Cents at a Time

101 Ways to Earn Extra Money on the Side
201 Frugal and Perfect Birthday Gifts
101 Ways to Save Money Everyday
101 Ways to be Better and Successful at Work
101 Ways to Save Environment and Energy
101 Frugal and Romantic Anniversary Ideas
101 Low-Cost Men's Fashion Ideas
101 Personal Finance Tips
101 Ways to Reuse Household Stuff
101 Things to Do, When Nothing to Do
101 College Graduation Gift Ideas
100 Tips for Ecommerce Startup
101 Ways to Enjoy Indoor During Winter
101 Ways to Beat Procrastination

Popular Posts

Quick Cash - How to make $100 legally, in a day
Living well on less than $15,000 a Year
Top survey sites for side income
What to do when auto repair goes wrong
Where should I invest my money now?
20 Ways to be productive and happy at work
51 Ways to get out of debt
Be a better person in 15 days, 15 ways
Income ideas for retirees and senior citizens
51 side jobs for college students
Urgently need a large amount of money?
Should I buy or should I rent?
Best Personal loan providers
25 Ways to save environment
25 DIY car repairs to save money
How to decorate office cubicle
How to show your wife you care
50 Financial Rules for Success
51 Frugal weekend family activity ideas
Become Rich By Saving 1 Hour Of Daily Wage
How much do I need to save for retirement?
How to negotiate your salary

Follow us on FaceBook

About Author

SB

Blogger by choice and IT manager by profession. Finance is my passion and gardening is my greatest satisfaction. Born in India, settled in US, Husband and a father. I created this blog in 2011 with a vision to help others. Thanks for your patronage. More info on my "about" page.

View all posts


Subscribe

Join our community of 5000+ subscribers to increase net worth and build wealth

Advertisements

Personal Stories

How I got a new HP computer replaced
Was COVID circulating in USA in fall of 2019?
How my credit score went up 800+
Why I didn’t invest in Bitcoins
How I controlled impulses to buy things
Why this blog is named One Cent at a Time

Subscribe via Email

Site Disclaimer

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in this web site are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Read full Affiliate disclosure


One Cent at a Time is published by SB. The opinions expressed herein by him are his own and not those of his employer or anyone else. All content on One Cent at a Time is for entertainment purposes only. By reading this blog, you agree that SB and/or One Cent at a Time is not responsible for any actions taken after reading this blog. For the full disclaimer, click here .

Major Media Mention

One Cent at a Time Media Appearances

Copyright © 2023 One Cent At A Time · Designed by Nuts and Bolts Media