Exchange instruments.

The first question anyone who decides to become a trader faces is: what to trade on the exchange? A modern trader's terminal offers a wide selection.

In total, about 100 exchange trading instruments are available, and choosing the most suitable one isn't easy.

A trader's career success and earnings often depend on this choice. Let's explore the main groups of assets available for trading.

Exchange-traded instruments include shares of large companies, indices, precious metals, commodity and currency futures, and currency pairs.

What does each of the listed groups represent?

Stocks - typically stocks of large companies such as Apple, Google, IBM, Boeing, Coca-Cola, etc., a total of about 40-50 types of stocks.

The profitability of stock trading is quite low, due to the fact that brokers rarely provide leverage greater than 1:100. On average, a successful stock trader earns about 30% per annum. Therefore, this trading option requires large investments and is designed for long-term transactions.

However, despite this, predicting changes in stock prices is somewhat easier than with other assets.

Indices - a composite of the price of a certain package of shares; for example, the Dow Jones index shows the stock prices of 30 of the largest American companies.

Stock indices characterize the general sentiment in a particular sector of the economy or the country as a whole.

They are traded in the same way as regular company stocks.

Precious metals - gold, silver, and platinum - are quite an interesting trading instrument, allowing you to earn up to several hundred percent per year.

True, the most successful trades are made primarily when the price has reached its bottom or peak, but profit can also be made from intraday fluctuations.

Futures allow you to trade assets such as oil, gas, or cotton. For some traders, this option seems simpler due to its extreme realism.

In other words, imagining a stock index is much more difficult than imagining a barrel of oil.

Futures are excellent for seasonal trading or profiting during extraordinary events; the profit on a single trade can exceed 100%.

Currency pairs are the classic exchange of one currency for another, the most profitable and riskiest option for stock trading.

Using a scalping strategy allows you to achieve huge profits in the shortest possible time.

Options are a relatively new exchange instrument that significantly simplifies the trading process; the entire trading process is essentially reduced to choosing between several price forecasts for a specific asset.
For example, from two options, you must choose whether the price of oil will be lower or higher in an hour. With a successful forecast, the profit averages 80%.

This type of trading is offered by options brokers , companies that specialize in this type of contract.

The range of exchange-traded instruments is extremely broad; this article only covers the most profitable and popular options.