why wouldn't you trade for a futures firm all you are going to do trading for an equities firm is make them a lot of $ in commissions with little return. (starting trading small share bundles) There is a lot more bang for your buck in futures...I have talked to guys in those type of firms (Equity) and they think 500-1000 a day is a good day, there are guys in my group making 20K+ a day trading futures. On good days some guys make over 100K. A 2 handle (point) winner in the SPU on a ten lot is +1000. Which I have made in as little as 5 seconds! The SPU future has an intra day range sometimes of 40 handles but it has been around 20-30 handles recently!