start out as a spreader part time and you'll have a fighting chance. 5k-10k is more than enough to make money since true spread margins are usually reduced... 1) for Spreads you do not need expensive real time futures data 2) No need to sit in front of your computer all day 3) No need for redundancy for DSL/CABLE etc. 4) Return on Margin (ROM) is often better than outright futures positions... It is cheap, simple and it WORKS!!! Now silver/gold spreads are very HOT and the eminis are even cheaper to trade..... ...now only if I could offer a cheap and good spread broker..... IB(interactivebrokers.com) is NOW offering pit access and you might want to look into that for spreads as well. PM me if you want some more ideas or hints for free of course P.S. you can start by using the search function of this forum and look for "Commodity Spreads" "Spread broker*" "Futures Spreads" "Seasonal Spreads" that lot of free, Golden advice.