Well in FX trading, there is both. There are brokers that allow you to keep money in an escrow account too but in the case of being able to keep your money in your account, yes, you will get a letter of credit from the broker. That's what I mean and I know you can arrange with some brokers IF what you plan to invest with them is high enough. Well there is plenty of futures brokers that don't require exchange-minimum margin but you all have to keep your money with them it seems.
No problem man. I just don't want to be accused of being someone who writes trading articles...lol. It's all good.
There's no reason that you need more than a few thousand to get your feet wet with ETFs. You have a limited number of trades per week, but patience is a great virtue to learn. Putting 500 into a futures account is simply suicide, and nothing will be learned from that.
I haven't traded equities in years. Whats the amount of day trades one can do a week with the PDT rule in effect? I thought it was like 3 or something. If you're being patient and can wait for the 2-3 set ups a week then it's a great idea. But I don't know what some peoples strategies are and can be that disciplined. Putting 500 in an futures account could work if you trade one lots and have good risk management. You basically have 10 handles of downside, so if you have a strategy where you are using 2 points risk 4 points reward you can live. But you can't over trade in an underfunded account. If you start getting chopped up and over in trading the account it will be gone quick.