This point you made on Margins is very important! Trading is an exceptionally challenging profession as it is. To have the huge distraction of frequently shifting margin requirements would not be acceptable to me. I had been curious about Interactive, but no longer. Distractions are the main cause of Death on the Battlefield for soldiers. And often for Warrior Traders, it is vital to minimize them.
When I was with AMP there would be those occasional emails from Risk regarding the limiting of futures margin, and then waiting for it to be normalized, but it was nowhere near as bad as what you are describing from the Interactive Risk Department. I currently have accounts with both Tasty and Ninja. With Tasty there has never been any variation in my margin requirements, except for the occasional shift over time, both up and down just a bit, and clearly shown on their appropriate page. And with Ninja Futures, on the trading calendar are clearly marked occasional days like CPI and FOMC when temporarily the Day Trade Margins, which are quite generous there, are 4 X the standard DTM, starting 15 minutes pre-announcement. But it never has lasted more than an hour for me, and often far less than that.
Trying to trade with frequently shifting margins with little or no warning, and without predetermined figures, would make me feel like I am trying to do a major overhead lift with weights via a foundation of standing upon deep, shifting and blowing sands. Good way to tear a tendon, ligament or muscle ...
