dilemma on which vehicles to trade

I work full-time in the UK and have no lofty ambitions to go full-time trading any time soon. Currently I take medium-term positions in UK shares but want to spend up to 4 hours in the evenings momentum or day-trading.

I guess my only options are US stocks or Forex?

I am wary of Forex as I would need a signifcant time commitment to learn from scratch. I prefer equities as I understand those markets much more. However, I am confused by the different US brokers offerings and the $25,000 deposit required to day-trade US stocks. I don't have $25k to put into a day-trading account. I would prefer to start with $5k.

Any suggestions much appreciated.

breaktwister said:

I work full-time in the UK and have no lofty ambitions to go full-time trading any time soon. Currently I take medium-term positions in UK shares but want to spend up to 4 hours in the evenings momentum or day-trading.

I guess my only options are US stocks or Forex?

I am wary of Forex as I would need a signifcant time commitment to learn from scratch. I prefer equities as I understand those markets much more. However, I am confused by the different US brokers offerings and the $25,000 deposit required to day-trade US stocks. I don't have $25k to put into a day-trading account. I would prefer to start with $5k.

Any suggestions much appreciated.

Click to expand...

During the UK evenings, the fx markets is fairly quiet across most fx pairs - thus that would be another reason to avoid fx.

US equities are in fact one of the very few markets that see action during the UK evening. So this may well be the right market for you to pursue.

You do not need to open an account with a US broker in order to trade US equities. Many UK spreadbetting companies now offer trading in individual US equities. I have not traded them myself in this manner, so you might need to check the typical bid-ask spreads and other potential issues.

Good luck.

I think I checked this before and found that UK companies didn't carry the full range of US stocks I would have liked. I will check again, especially now that I know Forex is quiet in the evening.

Have to say that if I was limited to trading the U. K evenings I would have to work damn hard to make money in my chosen forex field of speciality

Don't take any market for granted but clearly the us is alive and kicking

What about the Dow ?

N

breaktwister said:

I think I checked this before and found that UK companies didn't carry the full range of US stocks I would have liked. I will check again, especially now that I know Forex is quiet in the evening.

Click to expand...

Yes, I would assume that they will not cover all of the stocks that you might want to trade.

It would be great to hear back what you find!

I would also suggest US indices and via SB. You also have the mobile option access to acct so you can monitor and manage positions whilst at work during the day. Because the main indices are highly correlated, you also have the option to take outrights and hedge when needed...let your resting orders do the work !

GL

I'm interested in momentum trading NASDAQ stocks. I take medium-long term positions in UK stocks but don't have the time during the day to monitor the UK market for momentum opportunities. I am with IG and they actually have a lot of NASDAQ stocks listed which I can trade via CFD. However, I am not convinced that their pricing structure for US equities is right for me, they take 2cents per share with minimum of $15 per trade. Not good for a small account. Also, they have no demo account for their L2 dealer which means I will be trying this from scratch with real money! I think my only other option is Suretrader. I'll need to crunch some numbers and compare fees.

Also, their level 2 access doesn't show the full order book for US stocks. I could perhaps get US level 2 elsewhere and try SB with IG. Market depth and volume are essential info to have.

If you work full time, you're in no position to daytrade, which is to your great advantage. Not only does this simplify everything, it makes the $25K requirement regarding daytrading a non-issue. Level 2 is a non-issue as well.

Learn how to select a stock. Learn about markets and sectors and groups and subgroups. Learn how to distinguish between trending and ranging. Determine your risk tolerance. Determine which risks are worth tolerating.

Keep it simple.

Forex? No.

If you like, click "Developing A Plan", below. It will get you started on whatever you decide to trade, stocks or whatever else tickles your fancy.

Db