The following picture came from AMP Futures website. Where can I find such information about TD Ameritrade? Does TDA ever have 'Day Trade Margin'? Their description and information about margin is just too complicated......
You need at least $15k to get day trading margins with TD. And, they don't offer as much leverage as dedicated futures brokerages.
Apparently they do, but they do not make it easy to find... https://www.tdameritrade.com/retail-en_us/resources/pdf/TDA630.pdf Best bet is to call them tomorrow and ask them the specifics for the instruments you're trading.
I have an account with TD Ameritrade to trade stocks but I definitely do not trade futures with TD. TD Ameritrade usually requires half of the initial margin for all futures markets and it gets to be a bit expensive especially if your a day trader. You're going to want to use a broker who is more specialized in futures because they definitely offer better margins than TD. I have my IRA at TD as well which is great but I definitely don't trade futures with them. Most "Futures Brokers" list their margins on their website. I can easily find day trading margins from my futures broker at Cannon Trading too just like AMP
Thank you for the information! I appreciate it. I like low leverage. IMHO, the best way to survive in this business is consistency + low leverage. Half of the initial margin is more than enough to me. I traded with CQG through AMP Futures last year. I know nothing can beat CQG in terms of execution quality. However, their charting is crap and I don't recommend it to visual & manual traders like me. Also, CQG acts quite bizarre sometimes. One thing that shocked me was when I closed and took profit of a position but I came back and kept open next day.... (I don't know who had the fault, CQG or AMP?) Anyway, I decided to ditch both and to go to the one of the biggest in the market. Thanks,
You can use CQG credentials on a number of platforms outside of CQG like Multicharts or TradingView and their trading charting is great. We never ran into an issue that CQG did not have close positions, but we always recommend to check it across your statements that you receive. The other option is to check your mobile solution, just in case.