This is entirely a personal issue for any trader.
For me, it is an important aspect that I am interested in the actual commodity or country or currency that I am trading. That is why I don’t ever trade Asian instruments because they mean nothing to me personally.
Oil is a fascinating industry albeit nowadays progessively non-environmentally friendly.
The Us markets, both currency and industry, are so vast that there is something for everyone there.
But Gold is cold - and apart from some small industrial applications and jewellery, is totally useless, just sitting somewhere. As, I think, Warren Buffett, said of gold: “We dig it up from one hole in the ground and then store it in another hole in the ground”
I have never traded just for the sake of trading. It is a lifestyle that opens windows on all sorts of global issues and events. Without that side of it, I wouldn’t trade at all. And that is the reason why I don’t trade cryptocurrencies either- they have no “body”.
There is so much more to life than just how many pips up or how many pips down. Most of that, of course, is outside the trading environment totally. But for me, my trading also has to inspire and interest me - in addition to the obvious immediate objectives of successful TA.
But if I were to only focus on trading the direction, with no interest in the underlying product, what possible reason is there for looking at anything new?
But, like I said, these are issues personal to each trader and we are all different!