OK, so in other words if I use all the money in my account to buy a stock I can't do anything after selling it for 3 days? Wow. The $25K rule is bad enough, now this? Me not happy.
All of this arcane, byzantine crap (i.e. PDT rules, 3 day settlement, short sale restrictions on some issues) apply mostly to stocks and bonds. With futures, you can go long or short, day in and day out with no PDT rules, no $25K minimum, no settlement period, no nuttin'. Food for thought.
I am actually reading a book on futures right now. But I'm not sure it's for me. Stocks seem more straight forward. What's a good place to try a futures demo?
Hey Azzzy, You have a few options. Well, while we're at it, one is options. Options only take a day to clear, but are not recommended at all for beginners. You can trade them in a cash account with no minimum and you can buy a call ( go long) or a put( go short) easily. There are also brokers that pool several clients money together so that you can get by the day trade rules. I'll have to find the names of those, let me know if you're interested and I'll look them up. Futures are another option, and one that I'll be embarking on soon. Index futures are very clear cut and are no different than trading index ETFs or Index options, or any individual stock at that. There are lower taxes, easier to file taxes, no day trading rules, no clearing times, but most brokers have a 2,500 dollar minimum. Yes, you can burn that out really fast. You're trading with a lot of leverage. If you are interested in futures, I don't think you can get any better than infinityfutures.com. They've a great platform you can download and try out, if you open an account it's free. They're five bucks round trip, you can get cheaper, but again there are no platform fees with infinity. I use thinkorswim.com for my charts. If you want to know some good futures education sites, PM me. I don't want to spam the forum. Good luck to you, and thanks for posting your questions and sharing with us.
Are you US resident? If you are not, you can trade CFDs (please don't ask what it is - use google). There are CFDs on all liquid stocks in the world, as well as futures forex and pretty much everything. Spreads are usualy higher, but you can trade 24 hours, use up to x20 leverage, short anytime, no PDT and other BS. If you are not an american, you can also open account with a canadian broker and trade without PDT. Sorry my american friends, but you are f__d by your gov, and looks like more f__k to come your way.
Yes, if you can post (or PM me) a list of these brokers that would be greatly appreciated. I am at the stage where I try to get as much information as possible. I read everything and then sift through it once I feel I know enough to make an informed decision. Please do PM me the futures education sites. Thank you.
Yes, I am. And a US citizen. And while I'm not happy about the PDT bullshit (and a lot of other crap, especially the last 8 years) I wouldn't live anywhere else. Sorry, Belgium.