Platform recommendations

Spectra · Mar 7, 2007

Lowest opening account requirement I have seen has been $2000 but you can start trading the next day and bring it down to $500 or so without them closing it.

giles117 · Mar 7, 2007

Quote from Pippi436:

I may be wrong, but i always thought in the US a margin account must have a minimum balance of 2000$, due to regulation?

Thats for Stocks. Not futures.

If you have enough to cover the performance Bond (Margin) and commission costs, some companies will let you trade with them.

Example corn = $1350 Initial (overnite). so If you have $1400 you can trade corn.

Or if you do MiniCorn, the perf is $270. If you have $300, you can trade Mini Corn.

volente_00 · Mar 7, 2007

Quote from Spectra:

Lowest opening account requirement I have seen has been $2000 but you can start trading the next day and bring it down to $500 or so without them closing it.

Global Futures has a $0 opening balance.

Not quite sure what contract you can trade with 0 though.

giles117 · Mar 7, 2007

Xpresstrade's says this:

There's no minimum deposit required to open a futures account.

trading_time · Mar 8, 2007

Quote from volente_00:

Global Futures has a $0 opening balance.

Not quite sure what contract you can trade with 0 though.

air futures

example:

quality of air in march 2008?

ehhh heh

risky63 · Mar 8, 2007

paper trade your ass off.......until you can't stand it.
try different sims and it will end up saving/making you money in the long run.
if your not profitable on a sim....don't try it for real until you are.
you might as well send ME your money .....you'll have better odds.

Drew07 · Mar 8, 2007

I checked out Xpresstrade and downloaded their demo. The comissions look a bit high but their platform has live charts and theres no minimum to open. Also, the margin requirements look like theyre higher then what I've been seeing advertised. I'll continue researching them....anyone have experience with Xpresstrade?

Drew07 · Mar 8, 2007

Quote from risky63:

paper trade your ass off.......until you can't stand it.
try different sims and it will end up saving/making you money in the long run.
if your not profitable on a sim....don't try it for real until you are.
you might as well send ME your money .....you'll have better odds.

Will you take a personal check?

saxon22 · Mar 12, 2007

Quote from Drew07:

Will you take a personal check?

Read, read and read some more. Get some books that are considered essential by traders to survive and learn the craft of trading. Ask a 1000 questions here and on other boards devoted to this. Then, once you know a little, get e signal, ask people on ths forum for data (some of them can supply you with up to a year of data on ES or YM) and watch the market. Then try to implement your edge, polish your method, paper trade. If you are successful then move to a real brokerage platform like Ninja Trader or OEC. Learn how to use the DOM, and paper trade some more. Then read some more books and then..... I would recommend depositing 5K minimum and start trading. Do not under any circumstances go beyond 1 contract for the first month. If you do all of the above, then maybe, you will get to keep the original 5K. Maybe.

giles117 · Mar 12, 2007

Or he can stay away from the rapid fire Futures such as the ES, ER2 or YM and try the slower futures to build up some account value and then jump in the Ring.....

I find the YM and ES pretty reasonable to trade when you have SIZE and have papertraded for a bit to get a feel for the movement.....

What contracts are you looking to trade??????