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Taxes: 60% long term gains / 40% short term gains no matter the holding period on broad based index futures. Less going out to the tax man is a nice boost when compounding returns. Also, no wash sales or other tax headaches like with equities.
Both of the answers assume you are profitable. I agree that taxes are better on futures, and leverage is higher on futures.
However, the majority of people on the forum with little to no experience seem to be starting with futures, and I think that if they are really serious about trading full time to earn a living, you should not start with futures.
So I'd like to focus on the people that are not profitable. Why are they trading futures?
Yes, the PDT rule is a roadblock. But why do beginners insist on day trading instead of swing trading? I created a separate thread to discuss that:
Sorry Mike that wasn't clear from the first thread.
But of course, if we are talking of new traders and beginners, in my opinion they shouldn't be trading any leverage vehicle, not future not options, and not even double or triple ETF's.
Successful people will do what unsuccessful people won't or can't do!
I understand everyone always wants to project into the future, so they see futures as the most profitable and thus they want to start with them even though they are not profitable traders yet. It's like buying a Truck to pull your boat, even though you don't own a boat yet, you know you want one eventually.
But they haven't yet received their drivers license, and are going to kill themselves in a fiery car crash.
I trade ETFs rather than futures. Chagrined after watching the HFT webinar with IQ to learn HFT likes to lurk in ETFs Gives a face to the rumours, I suppose.
Gives a face to the rumours, I suppose.