hey guys i'm an australian university student majoring in economics and accounting; i graduate at the end of next year. i'd really like to land some kind of junior research/analyst role in equities or commodities once i finish, and eventually become a fund manager/trader down the track. thing is i love the market and would really like to get some trading experience now, trading my own account. it's money ive saved up (around 8k AUD) and can afford to lose as a learning process, of course. question is, which would be a good market to start in? I always thought forex would be best, because it's claimed that it's the biggest, most liquid market, is the most perfect market as it is purely shaped by supply/demand, etc etc. but then i begin to read about the bucket shop brokers (the bucket shops in reminiscents of a stock operator come to mind), how they trade against you, run stops etc etc. Of course theres ECNs, but then i hear about how really the only people who make money in that market are the massive institutional traders who have all the info and know all the cards, so to speak, and that its not such a perfect market after all. should i stick with something more established, like commodity futures, or stocks? this is assuming all the usual jazz, trading with an edge, tight money management, etc (ive still yet to start building a strategy and paper trade). i am in no way implying that i'm gonna be making alpha, i just want to put up with as little of the crap ive been reading about forex as possible basically i want to know which is your favourite market, and why?