对于抱有传统的买入并持有策略并只进行多仓操作的投资者，股票因为一些原因仍然是个显而易见的选择。股票有一个长期积极回报记录，投资者可以定期收到股息收入，红利和资本收益能享受税率优惠等等。但是涉及到交易的时候，他们还是喜欢股票多一点，但是外汇交易也有许多有点。这里有10个在你决定交易股票还是外汇时需要考虑的因素。
技术或者基本面分析：外汇交易严重侧重技术分析，而许多股票交易员认为这只是他们投资中的一个因素，他们还需要检查市场和股票基本面。但是如果你决定内在价值和相对估值是你交易策略的中心，你应该坚持股票。但是如果你侧重分析图表和技术模式，在交易外汇时你会比普通的初学者拥有更好的运气。
杠杆：当涉及到杠杆的时候外汇完全是另一片天地。你能掌控相比股票交易中只有2：1而外汇交易中高达50：1的杠杆吗？过度杠杆可以在你交易获利时增加你的利润但是也能在瞬间彻底摧毁你的交易本金。如果你对自己掌控杠杆的能力不确定，请远离外汇交易。
纪律：你有交易纪律来减少损失（相反的，让盈利持续）吗？例如，当一个交易寸头严重错误你会立即采取行动吗？你能在一个糟糕的交易日后淡定离开并且不尝试用一个小时的疯狂交易挽回损失吗？（更多请见：《交易心理和纪律的重要性》）交易纪律是外汇交易的核心因为杠杆可能会增加损失。在股票交易中，你的损失通常限制在你交易的数量之内。即使你的损失比你原始投资多，是因为你付的保证金多，这个损失不太可能达到你原始投资的50倍，但是在付保证金的外汇交易却可能。考虑到大量的散户交易者在2015年1月15日瑞士法郎飙升后做空而遭受巨大损失。
看跌下注：外汇交易使对货币看空下注变得非常简单。如果你认为日元兑美元将走低，你要做的就是在外汇市场做空美元/日元。做空单一股票要复杂的多，虽然在相反交易基金做空股指要容易的多。
仓位数量：外汇交易涉及有效数目的货币。根据国际清算银行的2013年外汇调查，四大交易货币占每日交易额5.3万亿美元的75%以上。加上其他三个主要货币，澳元、瑞士法郎和加元，一个外汇交易员只需要观察少于10种主要货币对。（更多请见：《七个新兴市场货币挑战外汇的层次结构》）相比之下，一个股票交易员仅在美国就要从超过3000支股票中选择。
交易点差：外汇交易点差由于外汇市场的深度往往比股票交易的更小。丰富的流动性和微小的点差使外汇交易更容易快速的进出。而对股票交易来说，流动性更受限制，点差更大。
交易时间：你的主要交易时间是在白天还是晚上？对那些白天有工作的人来说，在常规的工作时间交易是不可能的。因此如果你的确有交易的欲望，外汇可以24小时交易，这是一个极具吸引力的选择。
新闻影响：你倾向于关注大局和分析宏观经济新闻，还是更喜欢挖掘单一公司或版块？外汇比单一股票受宏观经济新闻和经济数据的影响更直接。
风险承受能力：你的风险承受能力在你决定交易股票还是外汇时是一个主要考虑因素。简而言之，如果你的风险承受能力低，请不要选择外汇交易。交易股票也有风险，但是至少你能通过那些最具流动性的蓝筹股缓和风险。
下行风险管理：下行风险管理通常在外汇交易中比在股票交易中重要。你需要交易系统可以执行的各种订单并应该能够实行对冲策略。
总结
如果你有丰富的技术分析、稳固的交易纪律、强大的风险承受能力、能够掌控高杠杆和足够了解市场实现对冲策略，你将能很好的适应外汇交易。如果你觉得这些不是你的强项，你应该把你的投资集中在更安全的股票世界。
Forex or Stock Trading: Which Is Right For You?
By Elvis Picardo, CFA | August 18, 2015
For traditional buy-and-hold, "long only" investors, stocks remain an obvious choice for a number of reasons. Stocks have a long-term record of positive returns; investors can receive regular income from dividends; dividends and capital gains have favorable taxation, and so on. But when it comes to trading, even though the odds are still stacked in favor of stocks, forex trading has a number of advantages to offer. Here are 10 factors that you should consider when deciding whether to trade forex or stocks.
•Technical or fundamental analysis: Forex trading is heavily geared towards technical analysis, which many stock traders consider to be only one factor in their investments, as they also need to examine market and stock fundamentals. If determining intrinsic value and using relative valuations are central to your trading strategy, you should probably stick with stocks. But if your strengths include charting and analyzing technical patterns, you could have better luck with forex trading than the average neophyte.
•Leverage: Forex is another world when it comes to leverage. Can you handle leverage of as much as 50:1 levels, which are available for forex trading, compared with only 2:1 for trading stocks? Excessive leverage can magnify returns when your trades are working out but it also could wipe out your trading capital in minutes. If you're unsure about your ability to handle leverage, do yourself a favor and eschew forex trading.
•Discipline: Do you have the trading discipline to cut your losses (and conversely, let your winners run)? For example, do you take prompt action when a trading position is going horribly wrong? Are you able to walk away after a bad trading day and not try to make back your losses in an hour of frenetic trading? (For more, see: The Importance of Trading Psychology and Discipline.) Trading discipline is essential to forex trading because of the potential for magnified losses through leverage. In stock trading, your losses are generally restricted to the amount you invested. Even if you lose more than your initial investment because you're heavily margined, such losses are unlikely to ever be 50 times your original investment, a fate theoretically possible in margined forex trading. Consider the thousands of retail investors saddled with huge losses on their short Swiss franc positions following that currency's surge on January 15, 2015.
•Bearish bets: Forex trading makes it simple to take a bearish bet on a currency. If you think the Japanese yen is headed lower against the dollar, all you have to do is sell JPY vs. USD in the forex market. Shorting individual stocks is a bit more complicated, although it's easier to take a short position on equity indices through inverse exchange-traded funds.
•Number of positions: Forex trading involves a limited number of currencies. According to the Bank for International Settlements' 2013 forex survey, the top four most-traded currencies (the U.S. dollar, euro, Japanese yen and British pound) accounted for over 75% of the average daily forex trading turnover of US$5.3 trillion per day. Add in three other major currencies – the Australian dollar, Swiss franc and Canadian dollar – and a forex trader only has to watch less than 10 major currency pairs. (For more, see: Seven Emerging Currencies Challenging the Forex Hierarchy.) By contrast, a stock trader has a choice of more than 3,000 stocks (using the Russell 3000 as the investable universe) in the U.S. Alone.
•Trading spreads: Forex trading spreads tend to be tighter than those of stocks because of the forex market's depth. The abundant liquidity and tight spreads makes it easy to get in and out of forex trades quickly. Compare that to stock trades, where liquidity may be a constraint and bid-ask spreads are wider.
•Trading window: Is your primary trading window during the day or evening? For those who have a day job, trading during regular business hours isn't feasible. So if you really have a desire to trade, forex trading is an appealing alternative because it's open virtually 24 hours a day.
•News impact: Do you tend to concentrate on the big picture and analyze macroeconomic news, or do you prefer digging into individual companies and sectors? Currencies react more directly to macroeconomic news and economic data than individual stocks.
•Risk tolerance: Your risk tolerance is a huge consideration when deciding whether to trade forex or stocks. Simply put: if you have a low risk tolerance, steer clear of forex trading. Trading stocks has its share of risks but at least you can mitigate risk in that sector by sticking to the biggest and most liquid blue-chips. (Consider reading: What Is Your Risk Tolerance?)
•Managing downside risk: Managing downside risk is often more important in forex trading than in stock trading. You will need to understand the various types of orders that can be put through the trading system and also should be able to implement hedging strategies.
The Bottom Line
You could be well suited for forex trading if you have a yen (pun intended) for technical analysis, a solid trading discipline, a strong stomach for risk tolerance and for handling a high degree of leverage and if you're market-savvy enough to implement hedging strategies. If you don't feel these attributes are your strong suits, you should concentrate your investments in the safer world of stock trading.
本文翻译由兄弟财经提供
文章来源：http://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/081815/forex-or-stock-trading-which-right-you.asp