Foreign Currency Exchange (Forex) Trading involves determining whether a certain nation's currency will go up or down compared to another major currency. When you trade in the Forex, you trade currency pairs: Pairs of national currencies which go up or down relative to each other.
When you trade Commodities (anything found naturally in nature or planted) you determine if the price of a certain commodity will go up or down based on whether you believe there will be a good growing season, increased mining prospects, a bad growing season, floods, drought, strikes etc. Mother Nature plays a much stronger role in trading commodities than it does in trading currency. And we all know "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature".
World Events:
As mentioned above, the constant change in weather patterns from year to year can play havoc on the commodities market. If it's not the weather it could be strikes by miners, new mineral discoveries, dry holes, war or a multitude of different events, all of which can completely change the outlook for commodities. The possibility of good sized gains exists in the commodities market, but the risk of huge losses due to crop failures, etc. is also present. You have to be very careful if you play the commodities market. With currency, the Forex Market can also be affected by worldwide changes, but they typically have a less dramatic effect on your portfolio than what can occur with commodities. Overall the Forex market is the safer bet of the two.
Forex Trading Information Easy to Find:
Information about trading commodities can be fairly difficult to find, especially information which is free. There is an ample amount of information available, but a lot of it is costly to obtain. Forex information is much more accessible and most of it is free. You can also sign up for practice accounts at many Forex sites and actually try your hand at Forex trading without risking your capital. This makes for a great introduction to Forex Trading and lets you know what the possibilities are. These practice accounts in Forex Trading are typically not available in the commodities arena.
Hours of Operation:
The Forex Market is open 24 hours a day, five days a week. There is no other market open this long. If you trade the Forex, you have more opportunities and time to complete your trades and trade again than with commodities or any other market.
Liquidity - Ease of Buying and Selling:
Again, the Forex Market does the most volume as compared to all other markets. If it is going to be easy to buy and sell positions, Forex will be the easiest with all its volume.Highly Predictable:
Commodity prices can jump all around the board depending on demand, weather, crop percentages planted, oil found or not found, etc. Forex markets are more predictable. Sure, currency prices can fluctuate and become volatile at times, but there is more of a pattern involved with Forex. There are more trends created in Forex that can be followed compared to the commodity market. This can make it easier to be consistent when trading the Forex.
Commission Free Trading and Instantaneous Order Execution:Because the Forex Market is an open market and has no centralized trading floor, when you trade in the Forex, you don't pay a middleman. In other words, you don't pay a commission to trade. Money is made by institutions on the difference between the bid and ask price, but that occurs with any market. The fact that you don't pay commissions or fees can really save you money in the long run.
Both Commodities Trading and Forex Trading can be exciting and profitable. It is up to the individual investor to decide which is best for their respective situation. With more information available for Forex Trading and with the information being free or very inexpensive, complete with free demo accounts available to practice trading, it's hard to go wrong with Forex Trading.
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