Hello all. I'm new to trading but it seems like it's a really bad time to be in stocks right now. I started looking at E-mini's and they seem like an amazing trading vehicle. The moves can be very wide intraday. Long enough to get in and out. At least a few good trenddays a month. Just think of the past ten days... And there's no uptick rule. Margin is just wild. No minimum 25 K. All though it's easy to be undercapitalized in futures, it seems like a great alternative to stocks. What do you guys think? I've done fairly well so far and I'm trying to build up my equity. Once I get my 25K I might jump to EchoTrade but for now, Eminis are it.
If new to trading, you should probably stick to trading smaller lots of QQQ, which has no uptick restriction, and , if traded via ISLD, is fast and very closely tracks the E-Mini Nasdaq (i.e., if you can successfully trade QQQ, then you can trade the E-Mini). If using IB, the commissions are very reasonable. In fact, 800 QQQ are $6.50, which compares well with what it will typically cost you to trade the equivalent 1 NQ contract at any broker other than IB. (The biggest disadvantage I can see of trading QQQ in place of NQ is that the relative bid/ask spread is typically wider.) Unfortunately, the 25K rule makes a mess of this, and forces new traders to take on more risk, and use greater leverage, than is necessary (i.e., by forcing them into trading futures). This QQQ vs. NQ trading issue illustrates clearly the stupidity of the 25K rule.