Way back when I was starting out my investing career I did have an interest in learning about currency trading. I posted a little bit about currency option trading in another post. To be honest it’s not something I do nowadays. I just feel that it’s not a worthwhile investment of my time never mind my money. Before I start a war here with all you currency traders out there let me firstly explain myself. I follow Warren Buffett’s value investing technique which is of course all about the stock market and looking for undervalued stocks. When I first started out in my investing career I did dabble in currency trading and I know a lot of you out there still do.

One of the big differences between stock market trading and currency trading is that currency trading doesn’t take place on a regulated exchange. There’s no governing body sitting at the centre of things controlling what happens. Basically members trade with each other based on credit agreements. This can be quite confusing to those of you out there who are used to the regulated world of the stock market. With currency trading, it’s almost like there it is a self regulating environment where investors must compete and cooperatore to make money in this world.

Then of course there is a big difference in what you’re actually investing in. There’s no stocks here just currency and your best guess as to what’s going to come up in price and what will go down. That’s the part that puts me right off getting involved in currency trading. I accept that no matter how much research you do in the stock market there’s still an element of risk. I just feel that it is so much more risky trading in with this amount of uncertainty. At least I know with stocks, I have a good chance of being successful from all the experience I have in the market and knowing which shares to buy.

The great thing about currency trading is that it trades 24 hours a day from 5pm EST Sunday to 4pm EST Friday. There’s over $2 trillion traded every day so there are plenty of people doing it. It really is the most accessible market in the world which is one of the reason’s it is so popular. So if you’re interested in learning about currency trading then sign up for one of the many brokers you’ll find online. For a bit more information check out the previous post I did about this type of investing. It may not be for me but there’s no reason why you might not find this approach to be successful. For now I’ll stick with focusing on stocks for beginners!