[buff]

Some interesting thoughts on Forex v Stocks here. As one poster stated, it is how the trader him/herself actually percieves the advantages/disadvantages of either style of trading.
I myself started with Futures as I always thought Stocks to be boring and not enough bang for my buck. Didn't do too bad, considering my level of experience, but looking back, I'm surprised I survived so long with the way I was going about things. Also had a go at Options, but that didn't last long at all, as they are a beast you really have to understand fully before taking the plunge.
Then I heard about Forex and thought all my dreams had come true. I noticed all the good stuff like 24hr market (no gaps), huge liquidity, fewer markets to follow (4 majors) and nice trending markets with huge ranges where you can trade off 5 min or daily charts etc etc etc. All looks good and appears to be the perfect market. Traded this for a couple of years part time and then gave it a go for a year fulltime. I can tell you, I learnt plenty about myself in that year and I also found Forex a lot harder to trade than it appears. I am now back at work (to reduce my wife's stress levels) and I am still trading Forex part time.

I also trade Stocks to manage my own retirement fund, and I am a lot more profitable with these than Forex at the moment. Maybe something to do with the nice bull run at the moment. But having said that, I am pretty confident with my Stock selection, that I am going to be trading CFDs (Contracts for Difference) in the very near future. These are a leveraged instrument that allows you to short also, and with online trading these days, brokerage fees are minimal. Sure you have a larger number of Stocks to analyse but as I use software to do this, it doesn't take that long at all.

I guess what I am saying, is don't be caught up in all the hype of Forex. I was, but after experiencing both the highs and the lows, my opinion has changed somewhat. I'm not saying a good trader can't make money out of Forex, all I am saying is, it is not as easy as it looks or other people make it out to be. Greed is the enemy, followed closely by poor money management. That's my ramblings done for now. Cheers and good luck.