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Ugh... every time this guy calms down a little and I start thinking about giving him the benefit of the doubt, he starts busting out with the "I am huge!!!" nonsense, and then logging in as "ALICE" to give himself support. Bleah.

So you're saying that you've ONLY paper traded, haven't actually started trading this system yet? If so, I would really advise against using margin at first. I mean, if the system is so great, why not try it on a cash-only basis for a while and see if it performs as it did on paper. If so...

If your system is producing a reliable, steady increase in your equity, then (assuming this steady growth will continue) using margin is a good way to double up the rate of increase. Conversely, if a trader is still in the "learning" stage, seeing plenty of losing trades along with the winners...

Another thing to consider is that even though your percentage risk per trade is only 1/2%, if you're not margined, the percentage of your equity risked is 5% at any given time, since theoretically all 10 of your positions could stop out at once. In other words, you could lose $500 times 10, or...

One thing you may be missing is the chance that margin calls at the worst possible times (which is always when they occur) forcing you to sell when you don't want to. If you're trading on a cash-only basis, you don't have to worry about that.

220, 221, whatever it takes.