Thank you for the informative & insightful reply. If you don't mind, could you tell me What instruments & which broker are you currently trading with and why? Sometimes I wonder if brokers assign people like some of those in this forum to handle your acct; It's no surprise that there were so many cases of accts accused of being hacked in by outsiders back in 2006 openning unknown positions and funds transfer when it was most likely insiders doing it.
At first glance, Dukascopy looks impressive with a minimum $50K capital requirement (clear signal they do not want to deal with shrimps). http://www.dukascopy.com/swiss/english/forex/forex_trading_accounts/ However, Dukascopy "variable" margin requirements & changes especially over the weekend gives me second thoughts. http://www.dukascopy.com/swiss/english/forex/margin/
If this is serious, I would recommend Advantage futures for a portion. Serious firm, and solid from what I've been able to dig up.
Actually the increased margins on the weekends are a good idea for those who go into the weekend carrying a position. The decreased leverage will help insure that you won't over-leverage your account over the weekend when it could gap up or down on the open. They're not the only ones who do this: Saxo also drops margin to 25:1 going into the weekend too. I was never a real fan of Dukas but I have been giving them a second look of late due to the fact that they will let you trade with a bank guarantee or straight from a bank (albeit a Swiss bank, but still) in this day when brokerages are shaky. The broker I have my prime account with was rumored to be in financial difficulty and news like this gives you pause in an industry that doesn't have the protection of more recognized instruments. Look around here. There already are a couple of guys (girls?) who use them are are quite satisfied.
cstfx, Since duka has 1:100 initial and 1:200 maintenance during the week and 1:33 initial during the weekend, I wonder what their weekend maintenance requirement is... In general, I don't agree with this rule, since increasing margin requirements, brings you that much closer to a margin call. You need all the breathing room you can get these days. If they had 1:33 initial and 1:100 maintenance, that would be certainly reasonable. Yes, as I told virtualmoney, there are many of us with this concern. Would you mind sharing with us which prime broker you are refering to? Take care! scexglobal
That's the objective of the house. Given the market volatility, they know they can margin call and cut loss for you anytime with "variable" margin settings. Commissions, nice platforms and profits are no longer the main concern. Your funds can always check in but can it check out?