well, for lack of a better explanation, it seems too good to be true, and makes me wonder why everyone isnt trading them. I figured there was a catch somewhere, that's all.... after all, there always is..
The catch is that if you don't trade them the right way you go to the poor farm much faster than trading equities.
LOL. That's it, that's the catch. If you make use of all the leverage they offer (and no one is forcing you to....) then the risk of a devastating drawdown is greatly increased. But if played conservatively without overdoing your margin, then the advantages over stocks are many.
I may try futures again, but for now I'm back to stocks. I have stock systems that work, but I haven't come up with a system for futures that works for me. I think a lot depends on your temperment and you capitalisation. I let myself get whipsawed too much with the futures and my account is too small. gs
All the former equity day traders jumped on over. That's why they've grown so much in volume. If you look at their growth, it occured while the nasdaq was dragging along.
I've done well with stocks, less well with options, and futures are very enticing but e-mini's scare me because i'm usually better with individual stocks than with the indexes. I am getting interested in SSF's but the liquidity isn't good enough yet IMHO.