Best Markets To Trade In 2025

A new year brings new trading opportunities. And a new US president, too, along with a flurry of new policies. But what are the best markets to trade? The financial markets can be broken down into these key asset classes, Forex, Indices, Commodities and Equities and in this guide, we highlight the best markets for online trading in each and why they are so appealing to traders. We review the most heavily traded instruments across the major online trading platforms, and which ones offer the most potential profit and highest risk.

US Stocks

The US stock market is the largest in the world, and much admired because of its vibrancy and vivacity. Wall Street provides vast trading opportunities for traders and investors.

Why you should look at buying and selling US stocks:

• Deep liquidity – Billions of shares are traded daily on the US exchanges. Large funds can buy and sell billions worth of stock easily.
• Depth of market – The US market is unrivalled in terms of sector spread and industry breadth. No other country possesses this many leading technological, financial, industrial, pharmaceutical, and consumer-oriented companies. You can diversify your portfolio easily by trading in the US market alone.
• Price booms – US shares often produce massive price booms (some called it a ‘mania’) that generate enormous trading profits. One glaring example is Nvidia (US:NVDA) in 2024. Hardly any other markets can produce these tech booms due to a lack of large technology companies.
• Growth companies – Many American growth companies are worth trillions. Apple (US:AAPL), Amazon (US:AMZN), and Google (US:GOOG) – collectively known as Magnificent Seven – are some examples of these growth titans. Who doesn’t want to buy into a fantastic growth sector?
• Innovative – The US capital market is highly innovative. It was the first to introduce derivatives like futures and options, high-speed trading and Exchange-traded Funds (ETFs). In 2024, the US ETF industry exceeded $10 trillion in assets.

👉Best US stock trading platforms

S&P 500

The S&P 500 Index is the world’s most-traded blue-chip stock index. Its popularity is unrivalled due to its size, sector breadth and the number of large-cap stocks.

Traders buy and sell the S&P 500 Index because:

• Benchmark equity index – The S&P is the representative index for the US stock market and comprised of the largest 500 stocks in the US. In 2024, the total market capitalisation of S&P surged to almost $50 trillion!
• Diversity of industries – The S&P 500 contains all major sectors, from financials to utilities to consumer discretionary. This means that SPX is not easily overwhelmed by one sector move. Investors like this diversity because it balances out the weightings of one industry.
• Great returns – Especially if you’re are invested in the index over the past decade. Since 2008, the index has risen from 666 to 6,000 – a 9x return (excluding dividends). Few other stock indices showed such a powerful and sustained bull trend.
• Deep liquidity – The index is extremely liquid and traders can trade it by hundreds of millions. Spreads are tight.

👉Best S&P 500 trading platforms

DJIA

The Dow Jones Industrials Index is one of the oldest stock indices in the world. It was developed back in 1896 and is currently comprised of thirty stocks (full list), all of which are the top blue-chip companies in America, such as Goldman Sachs (US:GS), McDonald’s (US:MCD) and Proctor and Gamble (US:P&G).

The index is still one of the most traded equity indices because:

• Most famous stock index – Dow Jones is one of the most-watched indices of Wall Street. The index has a long history and investors often used it to study market cycles. Demand for this index remains high.
• Volatile – Because of its small number of constituents (30), the Dow is also fairly volatile. This can be attractive to traders who seek short-term trading opportunities.
• Mature index – Given that most constituents are blue-chip stocks, earnings are relatively steady over time. This gives comfort to investors that few of these companies will fade away any time soon.
• Liquidity – Market markers provide competitive quotes to buy and sell the index. Commissions and spreads are tight.

👉Best Dow Jones trading platforms

NASDAQ

Compared to its rival markets like NYSE, Nasdaq is a young, but innovative, platform. It made its mark in sectors like technology. Home to a large number of new and hyper-competitive tech stocks, Nasdaq is now synonymous with ‘growth’. Traders flock to Nasdaq to buy the newest and most fashionable sectors, particularly the esteemed Nasdaq 100 stocks (full list here).

In essence, traders like to buy and sell Nasdaq stocks because of the following reasons:

• World-leading tech markets – The exchange hosts some of the largest technology companies in the world, such as Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG), Nvidia (NVDA) and Adobe (ADBE). These stocks are extremely liquid.
• Huge growth stocks – Few other market is more growth-oriented than Nasdaq. Nearly all the companies there are in fast-growing industries, including technology, biotech, internet-based and crypto-related.
• Volatile but solid performance – The history of Nasdaq is all about boom and bust cycles. But it is such volatility that attracts a large number of momentum and trend-focussed funds. B of the massive bull and  bear trends. If you play the market right, the rewards are immense. Look no further than Tesla (NASADQ:TSLA), which surged 10x during 2020-2021.
• Internationally focussed – When other tech unicorns want to list, their ultimate destination will be Nasdaq. Therefore, Nasdaq has many international tech companies, such as PDD (PDD) or ASML (ASML) that traders can buy and sell.

👉Best NASDAQ trading platforms

UK Shares

London is home to a large stock market. The London Stock Exchange (UK:LSEG) is where many traders buy and sell UK-listed companies.

Why traders focussed on UK stocks:

• Diversification – UK shares provides a source of returns away from UK’s traditional ‘brick and mortar’ asset class, ie property, and the gilt market (bonds). While shares are risky and cyclical, they offer returns that are sometimes better than bonds and property.
• Solid dividend income – Listed UK companies are expected to pay about £78.5 billion in dividends in 2024, on top of the £78 billions dividends paid out last year. In recent years, major financials, commodity miners, oil majors contribute to these large dividend payments.
• Share buybacks – Dividends aside, many listed companies are buying back their own shares due surplus cash and low valuation.  In 2024, FTSE100 firms spent £56 billion reducing their share count. This lowers the number of shares in circulation so that shareholders get a larger slice of future profits.
• Tax efficient – if you buy and hold through ISA stock accounts, which are tax-free accounts which you hold with major investing platforms. The annual allowance on a stock-and-share ISA is £20,000.

👉Best UK Share trading platforms

FTSE 100 Index

The FTSE 100 stock index (‘Footsie’) is comprised of one hundred leading companies listed in the London Stock Exchange. The index was initiated in 1984 and entire market cap of the FTSE 100 index is currently worth about £2 trillion. The index hit new all-time highs in mid-January of 2025.

Buying and selling this index is popular with traders because:

• Exposure to international assets – FTSE 100 stocks are highly international. The bulk of FTSE earnings are derived from overseas. For example, HSBC (LSE:HSBC) and Standard Chartered (LSE:STAN) generate much of their profits from Asia.
• Partial exposure to UK assets – FTSE 100 stocks also provides investors exposure to UK-only assets. BT (LSE:BT.A), Centrica (LSE:CNA), and property developer Berkeley (LON:BKG) are some of the pure UK companies inside the FTSE. Occasionally, the UK market may outperform other developed countries.
• Resource-focussed sectors – The LSE hosts some of the world’s biggest miners, including Rio Tinto (LSE:RIO), Glencore (GLEN) and Anglo American (LSE:AAL), and oil majors such as BP (LSE:BP.) and Shell (LSE:SHEL). During a cyclical economic upswing, this may proved to be attractive for traders.
• Valuation – UK stocks tend to trade at a cheaper valuation compared to other markets, especially the US. This is attractive to other companies wishing to acquire quality UK-listed companies at bargain prices.

👉Best FTSE 100 trading platforms

DAX Index

Germany is a highly competitive trading nation and has, over the years, developed a large number of internationally-recognised companies in a multitude of sectors include automobile, aerospace, sports, and medical. This makes the German market attractive to traders. The index recently surged to new all-time highs.

The German DAX index, now on the STOXX platform, is an actively-traded stock index as:

• Home to world-leading companies – Germany has a roster of corporate famous brands such as Mercedes-Benz (MBG), Volkswagen (VOW3), Continental (CONX), and Adidas (ADSX). Through Dax, traders can get exposure to these corporations with relative ease.
• Excellent constituents – Initially, the Index was made up of 30 stocks. But Deutsche Bourse expanded the index to 40 stocks in 2021. This creates an active and liquid index. Many derivatives (futures, options, CFDs) are layered on top of this index which provide opportunities for traders.
• Exposure to European economy – Most of the German DAX members are big European corporations with income in multiple European countries. Therefore, buying and selling into the Dax Index is a popular method to gain broad exposure to the European economy.
• Liquid – The Dax Index is one of the European stock barometers and is relatively competitive in quotes.

👉Best DAX trading platforms

EURUSD

While the Euro is a young currency (incepted in 1999), it is the second most-traded currency in the market. The Euro is popular because Europe is the world’s largest trading bloc and home to hundreds of world-class companies. Many governments hold the Euro as part of their foreign currency reserves. Trading between the US and EU totalled hundreds of billions annually.

Why traders buy and sell the Euro-USD pair:

• Trading Bloc – Europe and America import and export vast quantity of goods and services to one another. This makes the EURUSD exchange rate a very important one. Governments, multi-national companies and travelling individuals buy and sell the EURUSD.
• Competitive liquidity and spreads – Given the large fundamental needs to buy and sell the EURUSD, many financial brokers facilitate these trading activities, which add to the depth and liquidity of the currency. This makes the currency pair attractive to traders who wish to make short-term returns.
• Diverging monetary policies – create long-lasting currency trends. The European Central Bank (ECB) does not change its monetary policy easily unless it sees compelling evidence. This creates massive opportunities for traders to bet on diverging monetary policies against other countries like the US.

👉Best EURUSD trading platforms

GBPUSD

Britain is one of the most open economies in the world. Due to its historical strength, Sterling is a major currency in the foreign exchange market. GBPUSD – or popularly known as the Cable – is amongst the most traded pair in the market.

Why traders like to buy and sell Sterling-Dollar:

• Exposure to Sterling assets – Buying Sterling against other major currency is a bet on the British economy and monetary policy. Many traders use GBPUSD as one of the trading proxies on the UK economic outlook.
• Liquidity – GBPUSD is one of the major currency pairs in the market, with a large number competitive quotations available from major dealers and brokers. A narrow spread means it is easier to make short-term returns.
• Independent monetary policy – The Bank of England is an independent central bank. It runs a monetary policy that may divergence from the US time to time. This helps to drive the GBPUSD and presents trading opportunities.
• Volatility – GBP assets are especially volatile during tumultuous political events, such as Brexit in 2016, Black Wednesday (1992) and Covid-19. Most of these events hammered Sterling over a short time – good for short GBPUSD positions.

👉Best GBPUSD trading platforms

USDJPY

The Japanese Yen is one of the most-traded currencies globally. Traders like USDJPY due to its volatility and trends.

Why trade the Japanese Yen?

• Exposure to Japan – Note that Japan is the second largest economy in Asia, with deep ties to many multi-national corporations. These institutions will want and need to hedge and adjust their Yen-exposure levels in the currency market. This creates a deep market for USJPY, with plenty of liquidity for traders to utilise.
• Proactive central bank – The Bank of Japan is a unique banking institution that can sometimes spring surprises on the market. It created a massive Yen decline with  ‘Abenomics‘ back in 2013. BoJ’s monetary policy can create self-enforcing trends in USDJPY which traders pounced on.
• Yen-weakness – Historically, the Japanese Yen served as a safe-haven currency. No longer. Since early 2022, after the US Fed started to raise interest rates, the Yen has been lagging behind. This created one of the most incredible downtrends for USDJPY. Specifically, the rate weakened from Y100/USD to more than Y150/USD. After a rebound, the rate resumed its weakness. With leverage, this offers great opportunities for trend traders.

👉Best USDJPY trading platforms

Gold

Despite its reputation as the ‘barbarous relic‘, gold is still part of the investment and trading landscape. Industrial usage aside, gold is a form of monetary asset. Government and household invest billions in gold.

Why do traders like about gold:

• Tradable asset – Gold is one of the most-traded commodities in the world. Investors can buy and sell gold in major cities of the world. Two-way quotations are available on most trading sessions in London, New York, Singapore et cetera – and in major currencies. There is always a ready market for the metal.
• Volatile – Gold prices can be volatile when conditions are ripe. This creates opportunities for traders to buy and sell.
• Safe-haven asset – Gold is an asset that people buy during market stress. This characteristics is often taken advantage of by traders.
• Leverage – Futures, options and CFDs are often layered on top of the plain vanilla gold price to create a much more leveraged position. This can amplify the small returns in gold prices for adventurous traders.
• New all-time highs (2024) – Any asset that soar to new all-time highs means that demand is exceeding supply. This will immediately attract momentum traders and investors alike.

👉Best Gold trading platforms

Crude Oil

Crude oil is the lifeblood of a modern economy. Without oil, the industrial complex and transport system will grind to a halt. Thus buying and selling crude oil is a key function of the capital market due to hedging needs.

Trading the crude is popular:

• Macro exposure – Oil is highly sensitive to the global economy. Remember how crude prices tumbled to negative levels at the start of the pandemic? A stronger macro outlook tends to lift crude prices.
• Leverage bets – Most crude oil trading are conducted via financial futures, options, and forward contracts. The embedded leverage of these contracts allow traders to gain (or loss) quicker.
• Trend persistency – Given the cyclical nature of the global economy, price trends happen regularly in the oil market. This allows investors and traders to ride multi-month (or years) trends with oil contract. And they can make a fortune if they make a correct bet on the trend.
• Geopolitical and shorting opportunities – Traders can profit from a bearish view of the global economy by shorting crude oil futures. Occasionally, traders can reap huge returns in a short time from geopolitical events like the Russian-Ukraine conflict which pushed oil prices significantly higher in a matter of days.

👉Best OIL trading platforms

Volatility

Volatility has become an asset class of its own. Trading volatility is a relatively new phenomenon that came about in the last two decades. The VIX index, created in 1993, is a proxy for market volatility. It is also known as the Fear Index – because it rises whenever market fear rises.

Why trade volatility?

• Hedge against downside movements – Traders are now able to profit from a drop in asset prices through buying the volatility index – which typically goes up during a bear market.
• Sell volatility – During a long bull markets, traders can generate premium income by selling volatility (through options).
• Trend-neutral – Sometimes, traders profit from volatility regardless of the trend itself. This may prove to be an attractive point under certain market conditions. Of course, this is a sophisticated strategy and should only be used by experienced traders.

👉Best Volatility trading platforms

Bitcoin

In the past decade, no other asset attracted as much attention as Bitcoin. Invented in the depth of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, few heard about Bitcoin until someone in 2010 paid for a Papa John pizza with 10,000 bitcoins. That sum would be worth an eye-watering $1 billion (10k * 100k) now!

Traders like Bitcoin because of the following:

•  Bitcoin’s performance – Relatively few other assets can match BTC’s stunning performance and capital growth in the past 15 tears. From virtually nothing, Bitcoin is now worth around $104,000 per coin. This is an astounding level of appreciation, so much so that it gave rise to the word ‘HODL’.
• Volatility – The price for Bitcoin’s spectacular performance is volatility. Bought at the right time or with the right leverage, speculators can make a fortune. Bitcoin is a trader’s paradise because they can move in and out quickly.
• Sector leader – Bitcoin leads other digital assets. A bull market in Bitcoin is likely to create speculative uptrends in secondary crypto-coins, which generate higher returns.
• Cyclical – Bitcoin is a cyclical asset. A massive boom and bust happen in Bitcoin every few years. Traders can ride the trend both ways.

Given that UK investors may not be able to Bitcoin outright, many have turned to Bitcoin ETF like iShares Bitcoin (US:IBIT). This fund is not even 2 years old, yet has amassed $58 billion in net assets.  Investors have also turned to Microstrategy (US:MSTR) as a proxy to Bitcoin. The company holds 450,000 bitcoin.  Others invest in Bitcoin miners like Mara (US:MARA). All these instruments have huge price volatility and must be invested with clear risk management strategies.

Financials

Banks were the quiet sector in recent years. But bank stocks have been making decent gains. Barclays (US: BARC), for example, has doubled in past 12 months. Could 2025 see another large gain here in the sector?

Why investors are turning to banks:

• Profitable – Many big banks are churning out profits. This sustains steady dividend payouts. Lloyds (UK:LLOY) dividend yield is near 5 percent.
• Share buybacks – Steady earnings are making banking executives confident of share purchase. This underpins share prices.
• Equity rallies – Investors are eyeing another potential year of strong share price gains in the banking sector. Will JP Morgan (US:JPM), now valued at a mammoth $725 billion, be the first trillion-dollar bank?