Best Assets to Trade in 2026

As the curtain closes on 2025 and we see a new curtain open, signifying a new year. This change comes not only with a shift in the calendar but also with changes in the economic landscape. This may lead you to wonder what are the best assets to trade in 2026?

Many opportunities are opening up in fields like decentralization and Artificial Intelligence. All of these developments are making smart investors and traders ask what the best assets are to take advantage of the massive opportunities that the new year holds.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• The best assets to trade in 2026
• Forex (currency pairs) to watch
• Commodities to watch
• Why they’re strong choices for traders and investors
• How to build a portfolio that balances opportunity and risk

Best Trading Assets 2026 Quick Answer (TL;DR)

If you’re looking for the best assets to trade in 2026, focus on markets that combine liquidity, clear macro drivers, and consistent volatility. For most traders and investors, the strongest mix of opportunity and accessibility comes from:

• Forex (major currency pairs): High liquidity, tight spreads, and reliable volatility around major trading sessions (London/NY).
• Commodities (gold, oil, gas, industrial metals): Big moves driven by inflation, energy policy, supply/demand, and geopolitics. 
• Cryptocurrency (BTC, ETH, SOL, BNB): 24/7 market access with high volatility and strong narrative-driven cycles.
• Equities (stocks): Deep liquidity in major names, clear fundamentals (earnings, product cycles), and strong sector themes like AI.
• Bonds & fixed income: Lower volatility and useful for balancing risk, especially during shifting interest-rate cycles.

A well-built 2026 portfolio typically blends higher-volatility growth assets (forex/crypto/equities/commodities) with stability assets (fixed income) to reduce overall risk. Review what instruments Maven offers here.

How We Chose The Best Assets to Trade in 2026

To choose the best assets to trade in 2026, we focused on markets that tend to offer the most consistent opportunity without relying on hype or perfect timing. Here are the main criteria used:

Liquidity (ease of entering/exiting trades)

We prioritized markets with high trading volume so traders can generally get cleaner fills, tighter spreads, and fewer execution issues – especially during active sessions.

Volatility (enough movement to create opportunity)

Assets need to move to be tradable. Firstly, we focused on markets that historically provide regular price swings, while still being liquid enough to manage risk.

Clear macro drivers (reasons price moves)

Secondly, we favoured asset classes that react to understandable factors – like interest rates, inflation, central bank policy, earnings, energy supply/demand, and geopolitical risk – because this makes it easier to build a trading thesis.

Accessibility (realistic for most traders)

Additionally, we included markets that are widely available through common platforms and brokers, and that many traders can participate in without needing specialized access.

Risk management compatibility (can you control downside?):

Lastly, we leaned toward markets where traders can apply structured risk management (position sizing, stop losses, diversification), rather than relying purely on unpredictable spikes.

Forex (Currency pairs)

Forex refers to the market where currencies are traded. They are exchanged for one another based on expectations of the performance of the currencies. Their performance is determined by factors such as international trade, economic release, fiscal policies, and many more. 

Why forex is a strong market in 2026

Even though the foreign exchange market is one of the oldest there is, it is still the strongest and one of the most viable for good returns because of a couple of reasons that include

• Highly liquid: The foreign exchange market has a daily trade volume of $7.5  trillion. For traders, this means there is sufficient liquidity for them to participate in the market without fear of being unable to liquidate their positions. This ensures clean fills, tight spreads, and fast executions. 
• Ready access to capital: Prop firms like Maven readily provide funded accounts to traders who can prove their consistency. This affords profitable traders more exposure in the market. Prop firms are more popular in the forex market, hence being massive leverage points for traders and investors who need access to more capital. 
• Clear session-based volatility: The behaviour of currency pairs is more predictable because of the different sessions, like London, New York, and Asian sessions, and the volatility they provide.
• Market leader: The currency market is the market leader as it facilitates global trade, hence it always provides viable opportunities.

Best Forex Assets to watch in 2026

Even in currencies, some provide more viable opportunities; included in the best assets to trade in 2026 are the following:

1. EURUSD:  Tight spreads, steady trend cycles
2. USDJPY: influenced by Bank of Japan policy changes
3. GBPUSD: strong volatility around UK-US macro news
4. AUDUSD / USDCAD:  move with commodities
5. XAUUSD (gold): if allowed, strong volatility for experienced traders

N.B.: You can trade forex pairs on prop firms like Maven and brokers like  Forex.com, CMCmarkets and XTB.

Commodities

They are physical goods that power the global economy. They include things like wheat, gold, oil, and other goods that are exchanged globally. 

Why commodities can offer opportunity in 2026 

• High volatility: Commodities are highly backed by global events, and 2026 is already packed with global events that can potentially cause periods of high volatility. Some include shifting energy policies, which could affect oil prices, heavy demand for industrial metals, and geopolitical tensions. 
• Clear Macro driver: Commodities are a great playground for traders who understand the why behind price movements. Commodities have a predictable reaction to fundamentals like interest rates, supply, demand, and manufacturing.
• Ideal for swing trades and longer-term opportunities: Commodities often respect technical analysis like support and resistance, trend continuations, and the rest, making it even a good bargain for technical traders. Oil and gold have some of the cleanest chart structures in the market.

Best commodities to watch in 2026

If commodities pique your interest, some great options include 

1. Gold
2. Crude oil
3. Natural gas
4. Industrial metals 

N.B.: Great broker options to trade commodities include: XTB, HF Markets, and Pepperstone.

Digital Currency

These are digital assets that exist solely on the blockchain. Their existence introduced a new frontier to finance as we know it, pioneering a tilt towards decentralisation and unrestricted trade. It has been one of the best-performing asset classes in recent times, and a few reasons why it should be on every trader’s and investor’s radar include 

• Halving effects can continue to give traders and investors unparalleled returns.
• 24/7 access: The digital currency market is always open, allowing traders to constantly participate in the market for extra returns.
• Institutional players entering the market means extra liquidity is being injected into the market, affording it even more explosive moves, as that is attracting more attention.
• Rising demand for blockchain infrastructure is causing more players to trust the stability of digital currency as a viable investment option.

N.B.: Great options to trade digital currencies include: Binance and Bybit.

Equities (Stocks)

These are tradable shares of companies that enable you to benefit from the upside of the company. A stock represents your interest in a company’s performance and your belief in the possibility of them to continue to grow. Equities have been a favoured choice for traders and investors, and even in 2026, they still represent a very viable choice for reasons including. 

• Accordingly, advances in Artificial Intelligence lead to an obvious expectation of massive growth in stocks, especially those in the technology sector. 
• Deep liquidity for major companies as they have massive daily trading volumes, accounting for tight spreads, reliable trend information, and cleaner charts.
• Strong and understandable financial drivers. Stocks often have a more obvious relationship with their fundamentals, like company earnings, product launch, revenue performance, making their behaviour more predictable than pure speculative assets.

N.B.: Great broker options to trade equities include: Capital.com , XTB, and Trove/Bamboo.

Bonds and Fixed Income Assets

Fixed-income assets refer to yield-bearing assets. They often do not have explosive upside like the previous assets we have mentioned, but they act as safe havens to help balance the risk in the portfolio. Bonds are a type of fixed-income asset. They are debts you lend to governments, municipalities, or corporations with interest payments on them. Some reasons that bonds and fixed-income assets are a good pick for investors in 2026 include

• Bonds and fixed income assets are considered haven assets because they are backed by governments and large corporations. They are often very low-risk options for capital growth. 
• Interest rate cycles create predictable trends with bonds. When interest rates go up, bond prices fall, and when they go down, bond prices rise. Relationships between bond prices and interest rates, like that, allow bands to have predictable pathways. 
• A major trend in tokenised fixed income assets is making government and corporations able to issue bonds on the blockchain, promoting more interest. This leads to more liquidity, fractional ownership, and lower transaction costs, which make it very attractive to traders and investors.

Great broker options to trade fixed income include: Interactive brokers, Saxobank, and Trove

Summary

In conclusion, the best assets to trade in 2026 provide different opportunities, but they are not without their downsides. It is then the responsibility of responsible traders and investors to consider all of these before getting exposure. A good portfolio that weathers economic storms contains assets that can generate massive returns and also has assets that are safer. These portfolios often also take advantage of massive leverage points that prop firms like Maven provide. That makes for a well-balanced portfolio and a profitable one. 

Disclaimer: 

Trading involves real risk, and you can lose capital. This content is for educational purposes only and is not financial advice. Past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. Always trade responsibly.