What Market to Begin Trading?

[Gmoney23 10]

I understand it has a lot to do with personal preference and interests but I'm curious what everyone's opinion is on what the best markets would be to focus on for a beginning trader?

 

Not to say one is definitely easier then another but maybe some markets would be better for a beginning trader to start out in.

 

If I start in Mid Cap Stocks, Futures, or Forex, who knows what, but what is a good number of stocks/currencies etc to be studying at one time?

 

For example it might be more beneficial to just study the hell out of the ins and outs of 15 stocks opposed to trying to study 500 stocks at one time.

 

Curious what opinions are on a first market to focus on and how to devote my focus.

[BlueHorseshoe 10]

I understand it has a lot to do with personal preference and interests but I'm curious what everyone's opinion is on what the best markets would be to focus on for a beginning trader?

 

Not to say one is definitely easier then another but maybe some markets would be better for a beginning trader to start out in.

 

If I start in Mid Cap Stocks, Futures, or Forex, who knows what, but what is a good number of stocks/currencies etc to be studying at one time?

 

For example it might be more beneficial to just study the hell out of the ins and outs of 15 stocks opposed to trying to study 500 stocks at one time.

 

Curious what opinions are on a first market to focus on and how to devote my focus.

 

Hi GMoney,

 

I think this will depend almost totally on your goals.

 

If you're wanting a long-only buy and hold portfolio, then the answer might be several thousand stocks. If you're wanting to swing trade commodities, then you might want to consider ten or so futures contracts, dependent on your capital. And if you want to daytrade then you might like to focus entirely on a single instrument such as the Euro, the ES, or CL.

 

Your goals should lead to an approach, and that approach should lead you to the most appropriate market(s) to trade. Think of an instrument as a tool to help you achieve your financial goals; you want to use the most appropriate tool for the job you have in mind, right?

 

Hope that helps,

 

BlueHorseshoe

[MadMarketScientist 11]

I would suggest deciding if you want to be a scalping-type day trader or a longer time-frame swing trader. Or maybe even you think you want to hold options or stocks for an even longer time frame. Decide what you think you will be best at and that will help you your decision. Check out this poll: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/trading-markets/15171-who-makes-more-money.html

 

MMS

[Baker 10]

i traded stocks in the past, then studied forex, now im getting back into stocks.

 

for the most part id say stick to stocks but study forex as well. i think the majority of traders that are active on forums are forex traders, and many of these traders create new ideas that one can apply to the stock market (maybe other markets as well).

[Predictor 11]

I started by focusing on 1 stock. It has always been my belief that a trader needs to be a "specialist" in a few products which he becomes very familiar with. In general, I feel that discretionary traders who do well focus on a few products whereas system traders often do well trading many products.

 

You need to get a feeling for what you're more interested in.. if you're more interested in macro-economic style analysis or just calling direction (like me) then the S&P 500 is a great contract. A lot of people complain about it but really the entire market is mostly correlated these days. If I say the S&P 500 is going up tomorrow then most of the time the NASDAQ, Crude, Oil, Apple, and so forth will also be going up.

 

I haven't ever really traded stocks. So I can't say how that works. You might take a look at SMB Capital. I think they trade stocks. But, I feel like futures the best fair and unequal market there is.

----

Curtis

Home - OrderFlowDashPro

[ChinaCommodity 10]

I understand it has a lot to do with personal preference and interests but I'm curious what everyone's opinion is on what the best markets would be to focus on for a beginning trader?

 

Not to say one is definitely easier then another but maybe some markets would be better for a beginning trader to start out in.

 

If I start in Mid Cap Stocks, Futures, or Forex, who knows what, but what is a good number of stocks/currencies etc to be studying at one time?

 

For example it might be more beneficial to just study the hell out of the ins and outs of 15 stocks opposed to trying to study 500 stocks at one time.

 

Curious what opinions are on a first market to focus on and how to devote my focus.

 

 

 

Stocks, no other answers better than this, no leverage, and information is easy to access

[jiken 10]

I can't give specific market for you. Some people like to trade HK$ - USD some are others. That is depend on yourself. You need to read news about it before you start trading. This can help you to choose the market. For me I am taking Euro - USD and GBP - USD.

[Ammeo 10]

I understand it has a lot to do with personal preference and interests but I'm curious what everyone's opinion is on what the best markets would be to focus on for a beginning trader?

 

Not to say one is definitely easier then another but maybe some markets would be better for a beginning trader to start out in.

 

If I start in Mid Cap Stocks, Futures, or Forex, who knows what, but what is a good number of stocks/currencies etc to be studying at one time?

 

For example it might be more beneficial to just study the hell out of the ins and outs of 15 stocks opposed to trying to study 500 stocks at one time.

 

Curious what opinions are on a first market to focus on and how to devote my focus.

 

Go for stocks first (though i would say learning forex is much more easier, atleast from my experience) ..make a list of stocks ( 25-40) would be enough and only concentrate on them at first..

1 other advice -->dont scalp in the start , people may say scalping is the easiest method bt thats wrong..scalping drains ur mind like no other thing in trading . and before making a trade always look at the daily charts , daily charts are the true representation of an asset..

[Larry1234 10]

I would rather suggest start with stocks and that too in cash market, not in derivative (i.e. F&O), once you are comfortable with trading on this, then start trading in derivative segments of stocks where you can leverage your earnings.

 

 

I understand it has a lot to do with personal preference and interests but I'm curious what everyone's opinion is on what the best markets would be to focus on for a beginning trader?

 

Not to say one is definitely easier then another but maybe some markets would be better for a beginning trader to start out in.

 

If I start in Mid Cap Stocks, Futures, or Forex, who knows what, but what is a good number of stocks/currencies etc to be studying at one time?

 

For example it might be more beneficial to just study the hell out of the ins and outs of 15 stocks opposed to trying to study 500 stocks at one time.

 

Curious what opinions are on a first market to focus on and how to devote my focus.