Stocks, futures, forex and crypto

You can day trade almost anything that has a price and a lot of buyers and sellers. Most beginners end up choosing among four markets: stocks, futures, forex and crypto. Each one works a little differently, and those differences affect your hours, your costs and how much risk one trade carries.

None of these is "the best" market. This lesson lays out how each one works so you can compare them fairly.

Stocks

When you trade a stock, you buy or sell shares of one company. US stock exchanges have a core session from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, with thinner extended hours before and after. Many brokers now charge no commission on stock trades, but you still pay the spread between the bid and the ask.

Leverage comes from a margin account, where the broker lends you money. For years, the pattern day trader (PDT) rule required $25,000 in a margin account if you made four or more day trades in five business days. That rule has been replaced. The SEC approved new rules on April 14, 2026, and they took effect June 4, 2026. Brokers have until October 20, 2027 to switch, so some may still apply the old limits for now.

Futures

A futures contract is a standard agreement traded on an exchange, such as a contract on the Nasdaq-100 index. Equity index futures on CME Globex trade nearly around the clock, Sunday evening to Friday afternoon. There is a daily one-hour break from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. ET.

You put up margin, which is a deposit, not a loan. A small deposit controls a large amount of the index, so leverage is high. Costs are a commission plus exchange fees on every contract. The PDT rule never applied to futures. You can learn more in the futures course.

Forex

Forex means trading one currency against another, such as euros against dollars. It has no single central exchange, and it trades around the clock on weekdays. Your main cost is usually the spread. In the US, CFTC rules require a security deposit of at least 2% for major currencies and 5% for others. That works out to leverage of up to about 50 to 1 on the majors.

Crypto

Crypto trades every hour of every day, weekends included. There is no closing bell, so "the session" is whatever window you choose. Costs vary a lot by venue, and so do the rules on leverage, which depend on the platform and your country. Prices can move sharply, and the protections you get vary widely, so read the terms of any venue closely.

Why this site uses NQ and MNQ

My examples use Nasdaq-100 futures: the E-mini (NQ) and the Micro E-mini (MNQ). This is not a claim that futures are better for you. It is simply the market I trade, and one market keeps the lessons clear.

The contract math is also easy to show. MNQ is worth $2 per index point, and NQ is worth $20, so ten MNQ equal one NQ. A 20-point stop on one MNQ is $40, which makes small examples possible. The tick is 0.25 point, worth $0.50 on MNQ. If the index sits at 20,000, one MNQ contract controls about $40,000 of the index. That shows how much leverage a small margin deposit carries.

The takeaway

Stocks, futures, forex and crypto differ in hours, costs, leverage and rules. Stocks follow exchange hours, futures run nearly 24 hours on weekdays, forex runs around the clock on weekdays, and crypto never stops. Pick one market, learn its rules well, and stay with it while you learn. Most people who day trade any of these markets lose money, so the choice of market won't save you on its own.

Do this today

• Pick one of the four markets and write down its trading hours in your own time zone.
• Find the point or pip value of one instrument in that market on the exchange or regulator's website.
• Write down the leverage that one unit of that instrument would give you, using a round price.

Check yourself

Answer each one in your head, then open it to check.