Looking for the opinions of some experienced traders regarding trading backtested automated systems on stocks rather than leveraged commodity contracts. Almost all of the literature available on the subject of automated system trading refers to forex or commodity contracts. What is the reason for this? Would it be equally acceptable to trade automated systems with margined stock positions? Or does the interest that one must pay to the broker eliminate the feesability of doing this? as always, thanks for your time and advice. -Ben
============== Ben; Certainly something to be said in favor of stock index futures; but back to your title question. Much better to start /experiment with unleveraged -not margined stocks; much less learning expense, & interest isnt the killer,its leveraged losses/improper size. Plenty of stock systems on internet;prefer discretion, with some systematic study & rules