If you thought the finance sector was a man’s world – think again – as it appears women are surging ahead in crypto trading; or at least taking steps to get noticed in this ever-growing industry. Women are taking more and more of an interest in both trading and the decentralised blockchain technology behind digital assets such as Bitcoin.

A recent survey of crypto traders revealed that 8.5% were women. While these figures may seem low at first, the increased interest in the crypto field from females could see numbers grow in the near future. Interestingly, a meet-up group in New York City called Women in Blockchain boasts an impressive 1,400 members.

The Cryptocurrency Market & Women
The cryptocurrency market is undoubtedly attracting attention from both sexes. While males still largely dominate the sector it must not be forgotten that the concept of crypto trading and the technology behind it is relatively new in terms of mainstream usage and there’s plenty of time for growth. Tech-savvy female entrepreneurs are already shunning venture capital in favour of ICO fund raising techniques showing that women are embracing crypto trends.

While the majority of the crypto trading market is made up of men, there are seemingly very clear reasons behind these statistics. Research conducted over the past several years has revealed that women tend to be more risk-averse than men. This was reaffirmed by research published in Science Daily in September 2017, which stated that women still demonstrate lower risk tolerance with regards to their financial decisions.

According to the research, women have a lower risk appetite largely due to income insecurities with child birth, child care and care giving all contributing to insecurity levels. This helps to explain why the percentage of women in the crypto trading world is small, albeit growing, in comparison to men – after all, the crypto world is highly volatile and nothing is guaranteed. Markets are easily influenced by speculation, rumours, news of regulatory changes and more which leads to huge surges and declines in cryptocurrencies. Crypto traders therefore need to understand their own tolerance to risk.

Benefits for Women Trading Crypto CFDs
When trading CFDs you don’t actually own the underlying asset. This means that exchanges – which have shown to be vulnerable to hacking and theft – are not needed therefore eradicating the insecurities of many traders. All you do when you trade CFDs is speculate on future price movements. This allows you to trade both rising and falling markets, offering the opportunity to make profits from both an increase and decrease in the prices of alt coins – given that you can predict future prices accurately.

The high volatility of the crypto market makes it ideal for short-term traders, offering various opportunities to enter and exit the market. This is another reason why CFDs are ideal for women entering the crypto CFD space. In addition, CFDs are a good option for beginners in crypto trading, since traders can start with small lot sizes and gradually increase investments as they gain experience and knowledge.

Given that statistics show that a large percentage of women crypto traders are beginners, crypto CFDs, therefore, are the best choice for them. FCA-regulated global broker, Blackwell Global, has launched the largest crypto CFD offering in the world, allowing traders to speculate on the price movements of 15 cryptos, along with forex, indices and commodities, all from a single account. The company states that with the prompt and comprehensive customer support offered, crypto CFD traders can access all the help they need, at any point during the trading process.

Blackwell Global has also launched the largest educational portal for crypto CFDs in the world, offering a wide variety of resources, such as seminars, articles and more, for the benefit of traders across all levels of expertise and experience. In addition, with the facility to first open a demo account to learn the ropes before moving onto the live market, along with leverage as high as 400:1, traders have all they need to ensure a satisfying trading experience.

Women are certainly making their mark in every single arena, and the world of cryptocurrency is no different. However, given that this is a new and volatile market, trading CFDs is possibly the best option for women to participate in crypto trading.

The forex market is old, dating way back to the late 19th century. The cryptocurrency market, on the other hand, is a recent phenomenon and, unlike forex, has new coins entering the fray at regular intervals. The crypto world is neither affected by country-specific, geo-political issues nor macro-economic factors, because of its decentralised nature. This calls for a different approach to trading these instruments.

However, long-term and short-term trading strategies, along with arbitrage, are applicable in both cases. Each market has its own set of advantages and disadvantages for traders too.

Market Capitalisation
It is important to understand the nature of both markets before trading. The forex market remains the largest and most liquid market in the world. The average daily turnover in 2016 was approximately $5 trillion. It also has greater depth and stability, compared to the cryptocurrency market, due to its larger size.

In comparison, the cryptocurrency market is smaller, standing at $245 million as of June 28 2018. Moreover, most of the coins are available in limited supply. The price of crypto coins is determined largely by the demand-supply ratio.

These factors have to be kept in mind when we look at trading strategies.

High Volatility
The crypto market has highly volatile instruments. Random rumours and speculations drive price movements. In contrast, the forex markets show stability, and lower periods of volatility. You can expect 20% to 30% fluctuation in the crypto exchange rate in a day, which makes leveraged
trading a rare feature. However, higher volatility also means higher chances of profits, sometimes at unprecedented levels. This is why many short-term traders resort to cryptocurrency trading, since they get plenty of opportunities to get in and out of the market. In contrast, the amount of profit that could be made in the forex market is lower.

In either way, stop loss and other risk management techniques have to be used for both types of trading.

Cryptocurrency Exchange Rates Differ from the Actual Value
The exchange rates of cryptocurrencies can differ slightly from their actual value, unlike fiat currencies. Also, given that these are digital assets, they need to be stored on software or hardware wallets. Traders often prefer to store their crypto assets in exchange wallets. The problem, however, is that these wallets have proven to be vulnerable to hacking and theft.

Fortunately, leading brokers like Blackwell Global, are providing various means of crypto trading, like CFDs, where traders don’t actually own the underlying asset, but simply speculate on the price. CFD trading allows traders to take positions in both rising and falling markets. This is highly useful in trading in a highly volatile cryptocurrency market.

24/7 Crypto Trading
Cryptocurrencies can be traded 24/7. In contrast, forex markets close at the weekends. With robust trading platforms like MT4, one can trade in various crypto coins, with useful crypto indicators available to help determine the price action and assist in identifying buying and selling points. You can always choose a demo account to try different strategies in real market conditions, but without using any real assets for trading.

With the rise of blockchain applications, trading in cryptocurrencies is only expected to become increasingly lucrative. Many forex brokers have now included crypto offerings in their product portfolios, so that traders can benefit from the soaring prices of alt coins. Blackwell Global, a leading FCA-regulated broker, has introduced the largest-ever crypto CFD offering, with over 15 different coins to trade via a single account, along with forex and commodities. To know more, visit Blackwell Global.