Did any of you Forex traders start out trading stocks and switched? Why?

[SoCalSteve]

I've been reading the various online beginners courses on Forex and will study Price Action Trading before opening a Forex demo acct.

Reason being, I spend a huge amount of time screening stocks and then you have earnings surprises and what have you.

I'm curious if some of you found the same drawbacks to stock trading and moved over to Forex. I like the open 24 hr. concept as well to find a time/strategy to fit my schedule.

 

[itspossible]

Steve i dont trade now but still watch the markets etc.
I traded stocks years ago and found them very dangerous.Ive seen some stocks during the hi tech boom half in a day.Profit warnings can also destroy a stock.guaranteed stops are a must but if the stock is halted due to dodgy dealings i doubt the stop would be honoured anyway.I lost 5k in a year trading stocks and then switched to s/b trading the dow and ftse.I managed to make the 5k back but that was a
rollercoaster ride.I was once told to short a stock on its first profit warning as its sure to go lower unless of course another company sees it as prey and takes it over

 

[alexaherself]

Both have their specific dangers, clearly.

I've been reading the various online beginners courses on Forex and will study Price Action Trading before opening a Forex demo acct.

A very good idea.

Reason being, I spend a huge amount of time screening stocks and then you have earnings surprises and what have you.

My main reason was my perception that the forex market itself is far less open to manipulation (though that still doesn't exclude "broker" manipulation, depending partly on what sort of "broker" you use).

I actually traded indices originally, rather than stocks, which are both similar and different. So I'm not sure whether my answer's really relevant to your thread.

I like the open 24 hr. concept as well to find a time/strategy to fit my schedule.

There is that ... though realistically volumes (and ATR's) can be very different at different times of day. For example, Cable can behave very differently between 1.00 and 5.00pm UK time (when both London and New York are "open") from how it behaves between 1.00 and 5.00am (when neither is "open"). But if you want to trade actively (meaning something like "not just from daily charts"), it's probably true that you can more easily find something available to trade, that will fit in with your own conveniently available hours, through forex than through stocks.

As a personal perspective only, with no evidence adduced, it's also my overall impression that "retail traders" who switch from stocks to forex aren't generally switching back, and some are saying "Why didn't I do this years ago?".

 

[tomorton]

Stocks (and indices) far too volatile to make TA reasonably dependable on a given selection. Daily % changes amongst even large caps are enormous and common compared to forex.

 

[SoCalSteve]

Thanks for the input.

I'm just wondering if it's productive for me to spend more time studying for ex or if I should It seems like you can make more money trading stocks fo It seems like you can make more money trading stocks for instance a recen pic kwent up 50 percent in four weeks I don't know, can you get these kind of returns in the forex market.?

 

[alexaherself]

It seems like you can make more money trading stocks for instance a recen pic kwent up 50 percent in four weeks

They can also go down 50% in four weeks, which currencies tend not to.

I don't know, can you get these kind of returns in the forex market.?

No. I think it's fair to say that it isn't possible (without grotesque over-leverage, anyway) on an individual trade to get the same percentage-sized returns in Forex as it is with the very best stock trades. It also isn't possible to take the same losses. In my opinion, Forex is far safer, and a far better prospect for a beginner.

It really depends on the individual. If you're going to stick to FTSE-100 shares and trade a wide group of them with mixed long/short trades, you might be reasonably safe, but please excuse the observation that the wording of your question about whether it's possible to make 50% profit on an individual forex-trade fills me with some foreboding for your prospects.

The important things for you, whichever you decide to trade, are probably (i) to use a demo account until you've been steadily and consistently profitable with it for many months, before using real money (the next "black swan" is always just around the corner, and far more so with stocks than with forex), and (ii) to develop a very clear understanding of the concept of "position-sizing" as early as possible in your trading education.

Good luck, and let me know if a book recommendation will help.

 

[SoCalSteve]

I I don't want to give the wrong impression. While I'm not a beginner or when it comes to stock trading 50% is not the norm either. How I wish it was! improvin my stock trading that' my stock trading that's all

 

[Pippy5000]

I know this thread is a wee bit old, but I see that your flag is American. You should be very careful trading forex. The US government actively discourages Americans from trading spot forex. You can lose far more than your initial deposit. If you had a $1,000,000 long position on USD/CHF on 1/15/15, you would owe your broker $200,000 by the time you woke up plus legal fees and court costs if you couldn't pay. Luckily for many Americans, on 1/15 US brokers had a pre-existing policy to guarantee against negative balances. However, the Dodd-Frank act of 2010 doesn't allow this. US brokers are not allowed to guarantee against losses and the largest US broker just updated their policy. Their warning now reads "You can lose more than your deposit funds". It used to read "You can lose all of your deposited funds". Also, Americans are not allowed to trade with foreign brokers or even use the foreign branch of a US broker. You can also lose all of the funds in your account if your broker goes bankrupt as well. Client funds cannot be "segregated". Once again, the US government does not allow it. Unlike Canada and Britain, our country offers no protection for your funds in the event of a broker bankruptcy . You will simply become an unsecured creditor in the bankruptcy and its pretty unlikely you'll see much money from the bankruptcy trustee.

In short, trading spot Forex is extremely dangerous for Americans. If you're not an expert by now, I would strongly suggest trading in another market. Try trading S&P 500 e-minis on Etrade. Plenty of liquidity and you can use 15 to 1 leverage.

 

[Pourboy]

I've been reading the various online beginners courses on Forex and will study Price Action Trading before opening a Forex demo acct.

Reason being, I spend a huge amount of time screening stocks and then you have earnings surprises and what have you.

I'm curious if some of you found the same drawbacks to stock trading and moved over to Forex. I like the open 24 hr. concept as well to find a time/strategy to fit my schedule.

I have been trading stocks but decided to try currency's because I'm 71 yrs old and need to learn something new. I too like the hours and the the stress. Most of my money is still with my brokerage and IRA accounts.

 

[Pnty]

I traded mostly US stocks of the SP500 in the past through Interactive Brokers. But with stocks you get only maximum of 1:2 leverage. If you use futures on stocks, like E-mini SP500 futures contract then you get leverage of approximately 1:20 depending on the broker. With FX, however, you get 1:500 leverage and some brokers even brovide 1:1000 and I've also seen 1:2000 leverage. In the following video it is very easily explained how to use leverage but I must admit that it is also risky to use huge leverage.

 

[SoCalSteve]

I know this thread is a wee bit old, but I see that your flag is American. You should be very careful trading forex. The US government actively discourages Americans from trading spot forex. You can lose far more than your initial deposit. If you had a $1,000,000 long position on USD/CHF on 1/15/15, you would owe your broker $200,000 by the time you woke up plus legal fees and court costs if you couldn't pay. Luckily for many Americans, on 1/15 US brokers had a pre-existing policy to guarantee against negative balances. However, the Dodd-Frank act of 2010 doesn't allow this. US brokers are not allowed to guarantee against losses and the largest US broker just updated their policy. Their warning now reads "You can lose more than your deposit funds". It used to read "You can lose all of your deposited funds". Also, Americans are not allowed to trade with foreign brokers or even use the foreign branch of a US broker. You can also lose all of the funds in your account if your broker goes bankrupt as well. Client funds cannot be "segregated". Once again, the US government does not allow it. Unlike Canada and Britain, our country offers no protection for your funds in the event of a broker bankruptcy . You will simply become an unsecured creditor in the bankruptcy and its pretty unlikely you'll see much money from the bankruptcy trustee.

In short, trading spot Forex is extremely dangerous for Americans. If you're not an expert by now, I would strongly suggest trading in another market. Try trading S&P 500 e-minis on Etrade. Plenty of liquidity and you can use 15 to 1 leverage.

This is some scary shyte!

I thought you might be pulling my leg, but there's a huge thread at babypips forum on offshore brokers for Americans.

I've got to rething this whole thing. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Pat494]

I know this thread is a wee bit old, but I see that your flag is American. You should be very careful trading forex. The US government actively discourages Americans from trading spot forex. You can lose far more than your initial deposit. If you had a $1,000,000 long position on USD/CHF on 1/15/15, you would owe your broker $200,000 by the time you woke up plus legal fees and court costs if you couldn't pay. Luckily for many Americans, on 1/15 US brokers had a pre-existing policy to guarantee against negative balances. However, the Dodd-Frank act of 2010 doesn't allow this. US brokers are not allowed to guarantee against losses and the largest US broker just updated their policy. Their warning now reads "You can lose more than your deposit funds". It used to read "You can lose all of your deposited funds". Also, Americans are not allowed to trade with foreign brokers or even use the foreign branch of a US broker. You can also lose all of the funds in your account if your broker goes bankrupt as well. Client funds cannot be "segregated". Once again, the US government does not allow it. Unlike Canada and Britain, our country offers no protection for your funds in the event of a broker bankruptcy . You will simply become an unsecured creditor in the bankruptcy and its pretty unlikely you'll see much money from the bankruptcy trustee.

In short, trading spot Forex is extremely dangerous for Americans. If you're not an expert by now, I would strongly suggest trading in another market. Try trading S&P 500 e-minis on Etrade. Plenty of liquidity and you can use 15 to 1 leverage.

It is strange that a system that promotes competition should be so backward in their policies vis a vis foreign brokers, negative balances, forex etc. The same is true about world poker on the internet.
I suppose it is vested interests from Las Vegas ( the latter ) and Wall St. ( the former ) that are being protective of their own little patch of territory. Must have cost them plenty to employ ( bribe ) enough people in Congress to make this happen.

 

[AutomatedTrader]

Stocks (and indices) far too volatile to make TA reasonably dependable on a given selection. Daily % changes amongst even large caps are enormous and common compared to forex.

All indices are not that volatile. There is grandmother indice ftse available which is much low volatile.

But yes I agreed that some indices like dax and dow are very much volatile and also noisy. Not easy to make profit consistently using those instruments.