Forex vs. Other Markets

* Remember leverage could work in your favor as well as against you.

Liquidity
FX market: Near two trillion dollars of daily volume.
Equity market: Around 200 billion on a daily basis.

Trading hours

FX market: 24hr market, 5.5 days a week.
Equity market: Monday through Friday from 8:30 EST to 5:00 EST.

Profit potential

FX market: In both, rising and falling markets.
Equity market: Most traders/investor profit only from rising markets.

Transaction costs

FX market: Commission free and tight spreads.
Equity market: High Commissions and transaction fees.

Buying power

FX market: Leverage up to 400:1.
Equity market: Leverage from 2:1 to 4:1.

Specialization

FX market: most volume (85%) is made on major currencies (USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD and AUD.)
Equity market: More than 40,000 stocks to choose from.

Forex market vs. Futures market

Liquidity

FX Market: Near two trillion dollars of daily volume.
Futures market: Around 400 billion dollars on a daily basis.

Transaction costs

FX market: Commission free and tight spreads.
Futures market: High commissions fees.

Margin

FX market: Fixed rate of margin on every position.
Futures market: Different levels of margin on overnight positions than day time positions.

Trade execution

FX market: Instantaneous execution.
Futures market: Inconsistent execution.
All this makes the Forex market very attractive to investors and traders. But I need to make something clear, although the benefits of trading the Forex market are notorious; it is still difficult to make a successful career trading the Forex market.

It requires a lot of education, discipline, commitment and patience, as any other market.