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When you are choosing your first day trading market, there are several factors that need to be taken into consideration. These include your initial trading deposit, your personality, your profit and loss potential, and your location. Your first market should be a futures market because they are the most suitable markets for day trading, but you can choose almost any type of futures market that you prefer (stock index, currency, commodity, etc.). The following are the criteria that you should look at when choosing a market, along with markets that match these criteria.

Initial Trading Deposit

When you open your trading account with your brokerage. you will deposit an amount of money that will be used to calculate your available trading margin (the amount of money that you can trade with). Depending upon the amount of the deposit, some markets will not be available. Some popular day trading markets that will be available if only the minimum amount ($5,000) is deposited are:

• EUR — The EUR futures market
• GBP — The GBP futures market
• CAC40 — The CAC40 index futures market
• HSI — The Hang Seng index futures market
• YM — The mini Dow Jones futures market
• ZG — The Gold 100 troy ounce futures market
• ZI — The Silver 5000 ounce futures market

One market that is missing from the above list of popular markets is the DAX (The DAX index futures market). This is because the DAX has a minimum margin requirement of 8,000 EUR, so it is only available to traders that have deposited additional money into their trading account.

Trading Personality

Some traders like to have time to make their trades, while others are perfectly content to have to make their trades quickly. This does not mean that the quick traders think about their trades less, but does mean that they are confident in their trades, and can make them without hesitation. Many beginning day traders have a natural fear of making a trade, and will not be able to make their trades quickly enough for some markets. Some popular markets that are suitable for all types of traders are:

• EUR — The EUR futures market
• GBP — The GBP futures market
• CAC40 — The CAC40 index futures market
• YM — The mini Dow Jones futures market
• ZG — The Gold 100 troy ounce futures market
• ZI — The Silver 5000 ounce futures market

One market that has been removed in this list is the HSI (The Hang Seng index futures market), because it can move very quickly, and is therefore not suitable for all types of day traders.

Profit and Loss

Each market has a different tick size (minimum price change), and tick value (amount of money per minimum price change). Day traders that are near their markets margin limit (see trading account finances above), will not have much flexibility in their profit and loss potential. Some popular markets that have tick sizes and tick values low enough for beginning day traders are:

• EUR — The EUR futures market
• GBP — The GBP futures market
• HSI — The Hang Seng index futures market
• YM — The mini Dow Jones futures market
• ZG — The Gold 100 troy ounce futures market
• ZI — The Silver 5000 ounce futures market

The European index futures markets, the DAX and the CAC40 are both missing from this list because they have tick values of 25 EUR and 12.50 EUR respectively, whereas most of the US markets have lower tick values, such as the EUR at $12.50, and the YM at only $5.

Geographical Location

Your geographical location will make a difference to which markets you can trade, because of the different market’s trading times (unless you want to trade in the middle of the night). Day traders in Europe have access to the European open and the US open, but only part of the afternoon session of the Asian markets. Day traders in the US have access to the US open, and possibly part of the Asian markets. Day traders in Asia have access to the Asian open, and the European open. Popular markets that are available to traders in different locations at some time throughout the day are:

• EUR — The EUR futures market
• GBP — The GBP futures market
• DAX — The DAX index futures market
• CAC40 — The CAC40 index futures market
• YM — The mini Dow Jones futures market
• ZG — The Gold 100 troy ounce futures market
• ZI — The Silver 5000 ounce futures market

Recommendation

The best markets for beginning day traders to trade are those that meet all of the following criteria:

• Low initial and maintenance margin
• Smooth and steady moves
• Low tick value (value per minimum price change)
• Accessible to traders in different locations

and having taken the above mentioned markets, and many other markets into consideration, the markets that best meet all of these criteria are the EUR, and the YM.

If you are a European trader, then the market that I recommend is the EUR (EUR futures market), and if you are a US trader, then the markets that I recommend are either the EUR (EUR futures market) or the YM (mini Dow Jones futures market).