Let’s Settle the Debate: Futures or Stocks When it Comes to Trading?

Trading really is a matter of different strokes for different folks. Most traders won’t argue the superiority of the asset class they focus on over another. The fact is that traders trade what they trade because that is the asset they’ve gotten comfortable with over time and they found a way to make money trading that security. Some traders simply focus on the asset class that got them into the game and for most traders that’s stocks. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that, especially if you’re making money. On the other hand, some traders start with stocks and use that as a launching pad to riskier fare such as forex, futures and options. Again, this is a fine approach. Start with an easy to understand product like stocks and move up to something more complex as your trading acumen grows.

To be sure, there are advantages and disadvantages of trading the various asset classes. As we said, stocks are great, especially for beginners, because they’re easy to understand and they are the most followed of all asset classes by the media. Traders can always get their hands on information about stocks due to increased technology. The bad part about stocks is the limited market hours (just 7.5 hours a day in the U.S.) and the ability of large banks and hedge funds to manipulate prices, adversely impacting smaller traders in the process.

Those are just a couple of the issues you’ll have to contend with in stocks, so let’s take a deeper look at futures compared to stocks and why futures trading may be the place to be.

More Hours, More Profits?

One of the great things about futures trading is that you trade 24 hours a day. Compare that to stocks and you’ll see just how limiting stock trading can be, especially if you’re a night owl living in the U.S. Futures can’t be traded 24 hours a day, but if you trade index futures such as Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq contracts, the trading day is far more extensive than that of stocks.

Futures trade electronically so there is no need for humans to be awake or present to ensure the market is operating smoothly. And since US stocks are so widely followed on a global basis, even when US markets close, traders in Asia and then in Europe “pick up the slack” and trade US index futures, so the market is moving, even after the sun goes down in New York. In addition, traders that like to stay up late can trade DAX and FTSE index futures to profit from moves in the German and British markets. Try doing that with regular US equities.

Bigger Profit Potential. Period.

The fact of the matter is that trading futures can result in bigger profits faster than trading stocks. Look at the comparison like this. If you’re a retail day-trader, the SEC requires you to have $25,000 in your brokerage and your broker extends you $100,000 in buying power. The amount of leverage you get as a retail day-trader will always be four times your initial capital deposit.

Now $100,000 may sound like a lot of money, and it is, but it’s not a lot of money to trade stocks with. If you’re trading a $50 stock, the most shares you could trade at any time is 2,000. So if you wanted to make $2,000, you would need that stock to move $1 and that could take a while. Seasoned futures can make $2,000 in the blink of an eye with just a couple of ticks. See, that’s the beauty of leverage. When you know how to properly harness and exploit leverage the way good futures traders do, you stand to make more money faster than you would with stocks.

Lots of Versatility

When you’re an active trader of stocks, all you can trade is common stock. Yes, there are choices regarding what sector you focus on, but switching from tech stocks to energy stocks just isn’t the same as being able to go from index futures to crude oil or gold futures. Not to mention, there is no “mini” alternative with stocks. If you want to trade smaller, you simply lower the amount of shares you trade. Doing this obviously lowers your profit horizons, which happens with the Eminis as well, but even the Emini futures pack a bigger profit punch than traditional stocks.

At the end of the day, we’re not going to malign stocks and if that’s where you’re comfortable, stick with it. Chances are, though, as you learn more about the advantages of futures, you’ll want to learn more about this alluring asset class and get into the game yourself.

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