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Strategies & Market Trends : Systems, Strategies and Resources for Trading Futures -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brian Hornby who wrote (30617)	8/13/1999 5:45:00 PM
From: SE	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 44573

My feeling on margin is that I want at least two times the required margin just for day trades. I have not considered overnight holds, but maybe four or more times would be better. I have held one overnight with two times margin in the account. I think this is the part of the equation that most people don't understand about trading spoos. For example, one mini controls approximately $67,000 in equity if I use your numbers. Well, if you don't want to be heavily margined, have more dollars in your account. It is that simple. Heck, if you don't want any margin, have $67,000 in the account to trade one mini. Can you think of a better trading vehicle? It represents the S&P 500. It is not subject to the whims of management negligence or misreporting or whatever else. There is no uptick rule. There is plenty of liquidity. Real time quotes are free. You don't have to study a universe of stocks to figure out which one is best to trade. It is like a mutual fund tracking the S&P 500 without the expenses a mutual fund incurs. I think that that is the marketing diretion the CME ought to go with this and get more retail investors into the spoos. If you don't like the leverage, you don't have to trade with the leverage. Put more dollars in the account. It is that simple really. I don't think there is any more risk than you care to take with commodities or futures than you would with a stock account. It all relates back to margin...and that is something you control.