Equities or forex: compare on cost and hours, not on returns

Comparing two markets by returns is the wrong comparison, because returns depend on the trader rather
than the market. Two things can be compared objectively, and they determine most of your experience:
trading hours and cost structure.

Hours: the biggest difference for anyone with a job

Vietnam’s stock market opens at 09:00 and closes at 15:00 local time, squarely inside
office hours. With a full-time job you cannot watch the board at the moment decisions need making.

Forex runs continuously from Monday morning to Saturday morning local time, in four sessions. The
12:00–15:00 UTC window is the London/New York
overlap — the highest liquidity, the tightest spreads — and it falls in the evening across Asia.

That is the most practical reason people with jobs choose forex, and it has nothing to do with which
market is “easier to make money in”.

Cost structure: forex is far more complicated

The part worth reading carefully: equity costs are visible and fixed, while forex costs
are hidden in the price and move with liquidity. One lot of gold costs $19 in normal
conditions but can be eight times that around a
release. You will not see that on any invoice.

Leverage: the difference that decides the risk

This is the most dangerous part of moving from equities to forex. At 1:2, your mistake is doubled. At
1:500, the same mistake can erase the account in a session.

To be precise about it: leverage does not create risk by
itself — position size does. But high leverage lets you take a size you could never take in an equity
account, and that is exactly how most beginners use it.

The legal position in Vietnam

Domestic equities have a complete legal framework with the State Securities Commission supervising.
International forex sits outside the State Bank’s remit, and domestic forex brokerage has been prohibited
since 2014.

The practical consequence: in a dispute with an international broker there is no domestic body to
complain to. That is why the broker’s licence matters far
more than it would at home — it is the only protection you have.

It is not a choice of one

Plenty of people hold a long-term equity portfolio and trade forex in the evening. The two use different
capital, different timeframes and different skills.

If you are weighing it up, a more useful question than “which is better” is: what hours are you
actually at the screen, and how much volatility can you tolerate. Those two settle most of the
hesitation.

This article is for information only and is not investment advice. Conditions and fee levels are published by the brokers and can change at any time — check with the broker you actually use. Leveraged forex and CFD trading carries a high level of risk and can cost you your entire deposit.