i'm looking to start trading futures, mainly the es and nq, i currently trade stocks and don't plan on giving it up, i just want to look into the futures market. the question i have is for some one new to futures, what would be a good broker and acct balance to start with, i don't plan on doing anything major, just a few trades here and there while i'm reading up on futures, would IB be a good place to start and would 3500.00 be a good amount to start with or am i going in to high or low? or is there a better futures broker to use, i don't want to pay 500 bux a month for software for something i wont be trading that often to start with. also from what i have read, futures aren't subject to the pdt rule? is that correct? thanks brian
IB will do just fine. You probably wanna start with at least $5K. I would also recommend you start futures trading with the YM instead of the ES and NQ. -FastTrader
I'm a IB customer who is about to start trading futures as well. This is what I know of: 1. IB's commission rate for futures is $2.40/contract. 2. With IB, $3500 is enough for day trading one ES contract, however the overnight margin requirement is $3563. 3.The pdt rule does not apply to furures trading. 4. IB charges $10 a month for data fee. However if you spend $30 or more on commissions this fee is waived. For me IB seems the best choice trading futures. I don't think I need expensive software, although it would be nice if IB could provide real-time data on TRIN, TICK and PREM.
how is their data feed, are their quotes accurate, is it reliable, i've never used them, although it seems they are the broker of choice for daytraders.
Many IB users have asked them to offer TRIN & TICK. You can do that and hopefully they will oblige to the demand soon. TM Trader
As far as I know from my and other traders experiences, their datafeed is more reliable than eSignal, Tradestation and Qcharts. TM Trader
i don't know if want to put 10k into an acct i am just learning on, that would be the min i would have to use to trade the ym