Question:
Is the Forex market a more difficult market to learn to trade than the futures market(s)? Also, which market tends to move at a faster pace? Are the skills and/or personality traits that would make a successful trader any different between the two markets?
William from Hardville
Answer:
William, the answer to your first question is that it depends on you and your mental capabilities. Some folks find geometry quite easy to grasp, while others can’t mentally understand that a circle is 360 degrees. Both the forex and futures markets are challenging for any beginner, unless of course you understand that a circle is 360 degrees.
Perhaps asking which market moves at a faster pace is not the question. The question should be, which is more liquid? As a trader, liquidity is of prime importance. Even though forex liquidity has been challenged in the last year because of the credit crunch, the answer is still forex, since it operates 24 hours per day and trillions flow through the trading.
Skills and personality are two key elements of trading, for sure, but which specific traits fits which market better is a question I just cannot answer for obvious reasons. What I can say, though, is that no matter which market you trade, you better have the required skills, and your personality should be one that deals well with pressure, emotional ups and downs, and can absorb failure, as in the form of financial losses.
Trade in the day; invest in your life …
