Most Difficult Market To Trade ?

[Fundlord]

I have traded FX, commodities, individual stocks, stock index futures.

Even though 99% of my net worth came from FX trading I consider it the most difficult, most erratic and stressful. After a hugely successful run which has given me more than I ever thought, I think Its time to switch and find an edges somewhere else.

Every individual stock I picked went up considerably it was just a matter of time waiting out the down periods.

When I traded gold it trended well and was never jerked around daily by news announcements even if it was affected by news it was never to the extent a FX pair.

Same with stock index futures, you can play the long side long term due to the upward bias and play the short side through that nature of sharp sell offs.

I have never traded bonds, options or any complex instruments but I will add them to the poll for this of you who have.

 

[Redneck]

Most Difficult Market To Trade ?

The one's which do not marry up to the trader's;

Personality
Trading approach
Risk profile
Account size

Would be the most difficult



There are no easy ones


RN

 

[Handle123]

I believe all markets are difficult if one is uneducated to that market, once one learns not only the basics but beyond the nuances of each instrument, trader knows what to expect and develops the patience to wait for Trading Plan to kick in on signal to enter. I have always leaned on the S&P500/ES to always day trade, I can day trade any market, but signals in other markets are much less, more frustration of having to wait and most often can't do safe volume without getting ripped on slippage.

Fundlord, have you ever considered using options to hedge your day trades? It will deduct a little from overall profits, but let me tell you, much less stress. You can do Debit spread, getting in 1-2 strikes away on long side and sold(1-5) 1-4 strikes away, if day trade(depending on how much duration in trade), exit long option keeping short options till you exit FX, often times you cover loses on long option with what you made on short options. And if day trade goes wrong way, you lose on FX but gain on long option, you have to monitor short options as you don't want them to gain more than long option. Much has to do with duration of your day trades.

With your good fortune with FX, I would stick with what you truly good doing but find better risk control.

 

[Fundlord]

I believe all markets are difficult if one is uneducated to that market, once one learns not only the basics but beyond the nuances of each instrument, trader knows what to expect and develops the patience to wait for Trading Plan to kick in on signal to enter. I have always leaned on the S&P500/ES to always day trade, I can day trade any market, but signals in other markets are much less, more frustration of having to wait and most often can't do safe volume without getting ripped on slippage.

Fundlord, have you ever considered using options to hedge your day trades? It will deduct a little from overall profits, but let me tell you, much less stress. You can do Debit spread, getting in 1-2 strikes away on long side and sold(1-5) 1-4 strikes away, if day trade(depending on how much duration in trade), exit long option keeping short options till you exit FX, often times you cover loses on long option with what you made on short options. And if day trade goes wrong way, you lose on FX but gain on long option, you have to monitor short options as you don't want them to gain more than long option. Much has to do with duration of your day trades.

With your good fortune with FX, I would stick with what you truly good doing but find better risk control.

I have always opted for a smaller position un hedged instead of a larger position that is hedged. When I traded stocks and hedged my longs would go way more against me than my shorts would and I would be in a net loss. I guess that turned me off from hedging.

I wouldn't say I was paticularly good at FX trading, there was just a huge amount of opportunity for those who were not afraid to lever up and go long USD pyramiding along the way.

Two years of trading FX definitely thought me the crucial elements to win big at trading and I think I have to go to the next frontier and apply those skills instead of chasing trades in FX.

 

[SwingToWin]

all depends on your timeframe, strategy and personality.

I only feel comfortable trading stock indices and volatility.

Forex and individual stocks I can not trade.
Bonds and commodities are OK for me, but I don't fancy them.

In the end you need to scroll through many different charts of all asset classes in different timeframes and see what you can understand, what you like and what makes sense to you. I hope there'll be something left

 

[achilles28]

Agree with FX and pyramiding.....

IMO, US Treasury complex/ES/DAX/Nikkei all trade the same. Stocks are a little easier. Volatility breakouts work well in stocks, IMO. FX is it's own beast, but shares some overlap with all three, in regards to trend following.

 

[Turveyd]

Currency I do okay, on and off, had periods of being useless but never mind.

Stocks, made LOADS before the SEC Reg's stopping day trading, a LONG time ago.

Commodites, no experience.

Index's, Much the same as Currency to be honest, I flip between the 2.

Bond's, not a clue

Options, Made BOAT LOADS for 6months, spent most of it thankfully as I blew my 6K account over night when it gapped up and I was 100% in puts LOL ( kept the account at $6000, spent @$24000, good times )

 

[Fundlord]

Currency I do okay, on and off, had periods of being useless but never mind.

Stocks, made LOADS before the SEC Reg's stopping day trading, a LONG time ago.

Commodites, no experience.

Index's, Much the same as Currency to be honest, I flip between the 2.

Bond's, not a clue

Options, Made BOAT LOADS for 6months, spent most of it thankfully as I blew my 6K account over night when it gapped up and I was 100% in puts LOL ( kept the account at $6000, spent @$24000, good times )

What SEC reg, you mean the pattern day trader rule ?

What were you trading the options on ? individual stocks ?

 

[Turveyd]

What SEC reg, you mean the pattern day trader rule ?

What were you trading the options on ? individual stocks ?

Yeah that crap, moved me to Options to get around it.

Yeah on Stocks, got greedy, major BEAR market, was 100% in Puts, should of had 33% in Calls incase of a reversal, huge gap up worthless by the time the markets opened for me to trade.

Must of been 15 years ago, the first big crash when the tech bubble burst.

Good times

 

[SwingToWin]

One more thing to point out: One can not trade every asset class in the same way, because they all have their own characteristics.

In high timeframes, stocks and stocks indices are trending a lot. Forex is mean-reverting. Bonds are trending in very high timeframes but mean-reverting in shorter timeframes. Volatility itself is not traded, but derived from by options on SP stocks, future terms (aka contango) and price action in the stock indices.

You can't treat it all the same way!