My main account is with Scottrade.It is fine for stocks but trading options with them is more expensive than buying stocks. I would like to be able to sell naked puts and calls(for buying spreads,straddles,etc) Suggestions? Also,are there firms that allow you to buy otions of commodity futures or do you have to open a commodity account?

I’m not sure of the technical phrasing (list of futures underlying stocks?), but it would be a list of stocks that have futures traded on them. Thank you for your time.

to their investing group? I have some proven strategies and some unproven trading ideas for both futures and equities.

I currently trade a 100K account but would like to move up to -2 Million.

Can you trade futures contracts without buying on margin?
Or is margin a mandatory and/or given when you open a trading
account with a place like Lind-Waldock?

I am young, and I am very interested in becoming a stock broker. I just want to get a headstart on things. So, could you please reccommend or suggest any websites or links for me. I am still learning about stocks but I think I should give it a try. Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

Future Stock Broker

Business, Trading, Investing, Commodity, Futures

I was thinking of beginning to trade in the near future and just signed up for some practice trading website to teach me. But I have no idea what exactly what futures, opitions on futures etc. are. Can somebody pls explain that to me.
Also, which ones of those are wise to buy?
That’s why I am currently on a stock trading simulation website. I am just unclear about a lot of stuff on there.

Recently, i’ve been intrigued by the futures market. As far as i have heard, just to open a futures account requires a substantial deposit and small capital (1k-5k) is insufficient to trade futures. Is this true?
Also, what are the margin requirements like on index and stock (blue chip) futures and would brokers be willing to provide additional leverage if there was some hedging done on the positions?
I’m an Australian resident, if that makes any difference

I know this isn’t the brightest question perhaps(so…pls. save the jokes ), but I will be glad to hear your own experience in the area.

I am asking, because so far I contacted about 100 venture capital companies(phone/e-mail/fax) to promise them an investment model generating about 20 times(2000%) per year and the stupid bastards think I am joking. The answers I got were like: "Sorry, we have frozen our investment plans for a while", "Your industry of interest doesn’t meet our goals" - or usually via fax/e-mail just no answer at all. I even found e-mail of Ed Thorp to explain a few things, but totally quiet from there too. Now, I have 1-2 last hopes, which I am checking right now - wish me luck .
I know that the "right" way will be to get my degree and then land a job in bank - BUT I have my fears that until I become a trader this way, I will have to work in back office or some position 1-2 years and as well, the bank managers will push me to execute deals that will no guarantee profit. I am afraid that I won’t be able to use my models 100% on my own. And this is what I want here. After all - my models are NOT associated with economical risk - so I deserve complete freedom there. You are probably wondering now, since someone can earn 20 times yearly - then someone on the other side must lose big? You bet your *** that this is true . But those who lose in my model are the common people and country banks - which totally doesn’t bother me. From what I read so far, being a trader you have not one, but 2 goals : 1. Making money at any price. 2. Forcing many others to lose money. I have found a brilliant way to accomplish both - but once again: most people think I am joking when I speak of hundreds of times guaranteed profit. And of course…it is legal. Also, another problem is perhaps the fact that I am not an American, even worse(sort of), I am from Eastern Europe and since most Americans are biased towards scammers from that region - when they hear of someone from Eastern Europe, promising 200 times return - all they think of is: "advanced fee scam". But…I am not asking for any money in advance. I proposed to the capital funds to open letter of credit on my name via bank of their choice. Once the letter of credit is opened - I will show them the know how + trade via demo software + trade at later stage their own money. Once the profits exceed a certain level - THEN they are going to release the letter of credit, which of course will be on amount smaller than the profits realized so far. The only point that bothers me is the fact - then I don’t want to release the know-how just like that to the sharks. After all, those poor bastards Scholes and Merton lost big and they never released their complete investment strategy - just the formula and what’s known from SEC. I also re-read the rules of SEC, NASD, Nymex/Globex, LSE, ASX to see if my model would be legal or not limited somehow. So far I have found only a few not directly related limitations, which won’t stop me at all.

Anyway…any advice in your own experience on the subject is highly appreciated.

Thanks