If you’re into trading stocks, there’s a lot to keep track of. There are about 2,800 stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange and 3,100 listed on the NASDAQ.
On the flip side, Forex traders have a lot less to keep track of: they trade currency pairs, so it’s a matter of understanding just a few currency pairs.
Every trading instrument is unique, and before you start trading, it’s vital that you understand the intricacies of each trading instrument.
What's available to trade?
For forex
Euro versus the U.S. dollar is just one example; its quote of 1.175 shows that you can get 1.175 euros for one U.S. dollar. The three most traded currency pairs are EUR/USD, USD/JPY and GBP/USD.
AUD/USD, USD/CAD, USD/CHF, EUR/JPY and EUR/GBP are also liquid. There are other currency pairs you can trade, but they are not as liquid as these eight.
For stocks
You can find more than 2,000 stock listings on NYSE and more than 3,000 on NASDAQ, and these stock exchanges are not the only one you can trade on. Some of the U.S. brokers offer you access to the foreign exchanges, so you can easily trade German stocks, Japanese stocks and more.
What brokers can you use?
You need a broker to trade stocks and forex and there are plenty of brokers that specialize in stock or forex trading, or both. Forex.com, FxPro, and Dukascopy are some of the brokers that specialize in forex trading.
For forex
Not every broker offers forex trading. Check out Benzinga’s picks for the Best Forex Broker 2018 for a complete list of our favorites. Or, you compare a short list of our favorites below to get a feel for who offers forex.
For stocks
Some brokerages offer forex and stock trading. But if you’re exclusively trading stocks, you’ll want to use the best brokerage possible. You can check out our 2018 Best Online Brokerages if you want an overview of our favorites, or look at the table below.
How much capital is required for each?
For forex
Forex brokers usually have low capital requirements for account opening. The requirement minimums vary from $50 to $100 and leverage is also available. The leverage can be as high as 1:100, which means that you can open a position of $100,000, if you deposit only $1,000. If you are using a leverage as high as 1:100, you have to be very careful, because if the market moves only 1% against you, you may lose your entire deposit.
For stocks
You can also find a stock broker that will let you open an account for only $100, like M1 Finance. Usually, the required minimums are higher than that. Interactive Brokers, for example, requires a minimum deposit of $10,000. Instead of leverage, stock brokerages offer margin trading. If you want to day trade stocks, you need to deposit $25,000, which is not necessary for forex.
What's the difference in commissions and fees?
For forex
There are no commissions and fees in forex trading. All you have to worry about is the bid-ask spread. The bid-ask spread is the difference between a quoted selling price and a quoted buying price.
A price change in the forex market is expressed in pips. A forex trader would say that EUR/USD moved 3 pips if the quoted price of the currency pair changes from 1.1747 to 1.1750. So, if you see a bid price in the EUR/USD pair of 1.1740 and the ask price of 1.1745, your bid-ask spread would be 5 pips.
For a position of $10,000, a change of 1 pip means a profit or loss of $1, so a bid-ask spread of 5 pips would translate to a $5 cost if you close the $10,000 position immediately after you open it. Spreads you pay depend on the liquidity of the pair and on your broker. In some periods of the day, the market is less liquid, which widens the spread. Brokers can decide to make more money from each trade by increasing the bid-ask spread.
For stocks
In stocks, we say that a change of $1 in a quoted price is a change of one point. If a stock moves from $30 to $31, that is a one-point move, regardless of the size of your position. There is also a spread between bid and ask, but on top of it, you have fees and commissions to pay.
In addition to the commission you have to pay to your broker, you also have to pay regulatory fees, like SEC fees and FINRA Trading Activity Fees (TAF), in addition to exchange fees. The SEC fee equals to total price of transaction * 13.00 / 1,000,000, while the formula for TAF is shares sold * 0.0001119 with a maximum of $5.95.
Exchange fees depend on the exchange you are trading and just like regulatory fees, they are less than a cent. Regulatory and exchange costs are transferred by brokers to you. Broker commissions can be fixed or they can depend on your volume. Fixed commissions range from $1 to $7. There are also some brokers who charge no commissions, but you can’t trade all listed stocks with them.
What's the difference in trading hours?
For forex
The forex market is global and its trading hours depend on the country:
- New York opens at 8 a.m. EST and closes at 5 p.m. EST.
- Sydney opens at 5 p.m. EST and closes at 2 a.m. EST.
- Tokyo opens at 7 p.m. EST and closes at 4 a.m. EST.
- London opens at 3 a.m. EST and closes at noon.
London and New York trading hours are the most liquid and the highest liquidity can be observed when their trading hours overlap.
For stocks
Both NASDAQ and the NYSE open at 9:30am EST and close at 4pm EST. This period regular trading hours. It is also possible to trade in pre-market, from 4 a.m. to 9:30 a,m. EST, and in the after hours, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. EST, but trading can be volatile in these sessions due to low liquidity.
What are the main drivers?
For forex
Macroeconomic news is the main driver of the forex market. Reports on inflation, GDP, manufacturing reports, retail sales, trade balance, unemployment reports, central bank policies, and other macroeconomic factors have an impact on the forex market. Fed meetings can have a significant impact on EUR/USD, causing sharp moves in each direction.
For stocks
Individual stocks are not only driven by earnings reports and guidance; they are also under influence of macroeconomic factors. Just like the forex market, the stock market depends on the government policies, both country-related and global. Geopolitical events also have to be followed by both stock and forex traders.
Can you short sell on the forex and stock markets?
For forex
When you trade a currency pair, you are buying one currency and selling the other one in the pair. In our EUR/USD example, if you want to take a long position, you would buy euros and sell the dollar. There is no need to borrow a currency to sell it short.
For stocks
Stocks work differently. To sell a stock short, you need to borrow a stock and then sell it. For this, you need to have a margin account and if you decide to hold the position overnight, you also have to pay interest to your broker on the borrowed amount.
How do you hold an overnight position?
For forex
If you decide to hold a forex position after 5 p.m. EST, you would enter a new trading day with this position. You would earn or pay interest, depending on the interest rates of currency pairs. If you are long EUR/USD and the European interest rate is lower than the U.S. interest rate, you would have to pay interest for a long overnight position. You would earn interest with a short position.
For stocks
This is not the case with stocks. For overnight positions, you pay interest only if you borrow money or stocks from your broker.
Final thoughts
Stock traders have to pick between thousands of companies, while most forex brokers offer just around 40 currency pairs. Some traders like the challenge of searching among listed companies to find the one which is going to be worth more in the future. There’s also the challenge of forecasting earnings of individual companies. Fewer options in the forex market makes the search process much easier if you’re a forex trader. You can focus on applying your strategies on several of the most liquid pairs.
Leverage is much higher in the forex market because it is less volatile than the stock market. Ten percent declines don’t exist in the forex market, but that can easily happen for stocks, especially after earnings reports.
Macroeconomic indicators are the key drivers of the forex market, while stocks are impacted by both macroeconomic and microeconomic indicators. There is also a connection between two markets. If a U.S.-based company makes a large percentage of its revenue from exports to Europe, its profitability is going to be impacted by the EUR/USD currency pair, so its stock price might move with or against the currency pair. If the stock market in one country becomes too cheap, hedge funds might decide to enter that market and buy the local currency in order to purchase stocks. This could impact the value of the currency pair.
It’s always a smart idea to trade what you’re comfortable with. If you don’t know much about the forex market and you are experienced in stock trading, you might stick to stocks. If you don’t know much about either, you might try to figure out how stocks and forex fit into your investing strategy or how they can help you to reach your goals.
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