If you had $2600 and traded carefully at first I don't see how there would be a problem. I often hear how difficult and risky it is to trade futures... but I don't see it... If a contract costs $750 you'd have to lose more then 30 points (ES) before deficit.
The new margin reqs are 2000$ initial req and 1600$ maintainence per each contract, it used to be closer to half this... They changed this recently, within the last week I believe
just to clarify, you can technically open a 2000 account and trade one es as long as the account doesnt drop below 1600?
don't even think about trading ES (1-lots) with less than $5K. Technically, you can open an IB account with $2K, and you could put on one ES daytrade, but if you didn't win that first one, you couldn't trade again. IB requires a minimum balance of $2K to open a new position, regardless of instrument (stock, futures, option, etc). Also, those ES margins of $2K initial and $1.6K maintenance are intraday only. To trade outside of normal market hours or hold overnight requires $4K initial and $3.2K maintenance! :eek:
why stay with IB for futures if you don't have the capital ? switch to global--- $500.00 min per contract--2k to open and you can trade intraday untill the account is under $500.00. www.daytrade4less.com best, surfer
Which it will be in quick order. Since you haven't traded futures before, IMHO it is not wise to use your limited capital to learn with. Yes, using real money is the only way to truely learn how to trade them, but at least give yourself a fighting chance by spending some time learning about futures first. I actually think blowing a small account is a good way for a new trader to learn the ropes, but only if you have other means of trading once you have paid some tuition to the market. If you are completely willing to lose that $2600 in a matter of weeks, then go ahead and trade it. But your best chance at success will be to blow it later when you have the basics down.