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Hi everyone, new here. I've traded stocks for awhile and I'm interested in futures. I've been paper trading off and on for a few years (mainly just for fun...yeah I'm a nerd) and want to transition to small amounts of real money.
I'm not sure if this is the place to ask this question... sorry if not. My questions are mainly about brokers and platforms. I have an account already with TD Ameritrade (for other investments) and it would be easy to just add futures capability to that account. However, the paper trading I've mainly used has been OEC and I like it a lot. It's intuitive to me and has everything I need at this stage. I tried thinkorswim and found it clunky and counterintuitive. I realize I probably just need to get used to it but I never felt that way about OEC. I'm wondering if I should just open a different account for OEC, or if I should use thinkorswim so I can stay entirely with Ameritrade, despite Ameritrade's high commissions. I almost opened an account with futuresonline for OEC but I couldn't find any reviews about it (or Gain) that looked trustworthy. Any feedback on this? Thank you so much.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
If you have a method that works and feels good and which you have been comfortable with, the last thing I would do is to change it. If you are profitably trading futures, the few dollars for platform or commission should not be a show-stopper.
It makes also sense to segregate your futures account from your other account.
That is just good risk management.
This is what I was thinking, but I got a little scared off because I couldn't find much in the way of independent reviews for OEC brokers. I downloaded my OEC demo from FuturesOnline so I looked at them, and I know they were bought by Gain capital, but I couldn't find any recent reviews from independent sources for them. If you can point me to any I'd be grateful... I'm very wary of scams. A lot of these broker sites look kind of fly-by-night. With Ameritrade at least I know I'm safe(ish), even if I don't like thinkorswim.
You're absolutely right. I didn't think of that. I know people are hesitant to make recommendations, but if you or anyone knows some trustworthy OEC brokers, it would help a lot. Some of these financial scams are so complex, and being new to futures, I'm fairly suspicious. Just hearing other people's experiences and opinions is quite helpful. For what it's worth, I've also tried NinjaTrader and a couple others and I just keep going back to OEC.
Hello, fellow traders, and thanks again for the access to the futures forum. I used to trade the RUT as
well as the broad market indices. I am a graduate of a 2009 Protege Program based in Atlanta, GA,
as well as INVESTools Program in Utah. I have just opened an IRA, and I am looking to get back into
trading again after a five-and-a-half-year hiatus in a live trade. I hope this open forum will be a great
benefit in my return to futures trading.
I've used FuturesOnline for about 6 months. It's great and has low margin requirements for ES: $500 during the day and $1,000 after hours per contract. And the commissions are low.
What is the deal there with FuturesOnline and their margins if what NotAGuru's statement is correct? What is their overnight margin (they do not list it on their website), and does that pull back to initial upon market re-open?
