Just because AMP offers $500/contract does not mean you have to lever up all the way. There are plenty of brokers offering 25% intraday of initial margin. For TradeStation today, that is $1237.50/contract. I regard that as middle-of-the-road leverage. https://www.tradestation.com/pricing/futures-margin-requirements/ IB is fanatical about limiting their risk, sometimes to the detriment of traders. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...io-selloff-mishap-panel-idUSKBN0LM23620150218
The "detriment" part depends on your perspective, I guess: if I had a substantial chunk of my own funds desposited at a brokerage, personally I'd be very happy to know that they're fanatical about limiting their own risk-exposure.
"Sometimes" being the key word. I have an IB account. more risk = more reward less risk = less reward Everyone has different risk comfort levels, and there are different risks. I would rather hold $ at IB than somewhere like the former Vision Financial (now High Ridge) due to custodial risk, as well as Black Swan risk.
Some brokers will let you trade ES on $300 intraday margin. How much leverage?? If you're trading account is "all you've got", it's foolish to trade on high margin. If your trading account is a small(?) percentage of your trading/investing capital, higher leverage is OK in that small account. (It's really the "amount of risk relative to your total capital"... not just the leverage risk in one trading account.) FWIW.... I've traded for years and rarely (never?) had my "total trading capital" leveraged even 2:1. I've always been concerned more with "surviving the worst" before trying to get rich quickly.
Absolutely! IB is more conservative than many/most others about leverage... thus trying to protect the customer as well as themselves. IB customers should take some solace in that.
I am an unprofitable futures trader so far. Giving 1000x leverage to beginners like me is giving me rope to hang myself. I am actually thankful to IB for the low leverage. Hope to get better over time.
Keep in mind no one has ever lost money in a US regulated futures account. In the rare case of a broker failure you may have to wait until the dust settles to get all your funds; so for some, there might be an opportunity cost. For most, firms that charge only exchange margins are fine and quite beneficial especially for larger accounts if you know how to properly use them. There's no need to overreact and pay the ongoing costs of patronizing high-margin firms.
IB strikes again, i knew if volatility went up they would raise margin fast. Need close to 10k to hold YM overnight.
I would say the riskier you are, the higher margin you should take, the less you are go with lower margin I'm looking into other brokers, as IB seems quite ridiculous with my safety zones