[AbeSmith]

Abe,
Allow me to play devil's advocate:
1) The e-mini's are virtually 24 hours as well.
Broswnfan,
With eminis, if you want to get out of a swing position afterhours, aren't there some restrictions? Like limit order only, wide spreads, less liquidity? Not sure about the restrictions but I know it is more difficult to trade.

2) That volume number is an interesting one. I wonder how much volume a small trader needs in order to be successful?
Doesn't more volume tend to cause less eratic movements? I heard that YM is more eratic than S&P because there is less volume on YM. So I assume with the high volume on Forex it is not as eratic. Watching YM and Forex closely on an intraday basis the past few days I have noticed that YM was alot more eratic.

3) We could find charts showing less/more volatility at certain times. Personally, I thrive on volatility so that works for me but I can see what you are saying here.
4) Same with the e-mini's. YOU control the leverage being employed.
With emini's though the control is not as much, both in terms of amount of leverage I think and fluidness or exactness of how much you want to risk. In YM, each contract is a big chunk, with one tick moving as much as $5 in the YM. But with Forex you can more closely control how much you want to risk. For me 1 YM contract is often too much. So I'm often finding myself getting stopped out in the YM volitility, partly because I don't want to risk the money for a wider stop.
5) You may not hear about servers going down b/c there is no centralized place to trade forex! You are trading against the broker! It's all on the broker's servers!

6) I would agree here but I've also read how certain types of 'bucket shops' will go stop hunting and since there is no centralized price center, there's not much you can do if Company A shows price there even though Company B does not...

And as you said, there is next to zero regulation here. That alone is enough for me to stay away. When there is no regulation, that only helps the BIG boys. Lack of regulation only hurts the small, retail trader.
I would like to see more regulation to keep them honest. But Brownsfan, don't be so quick to shun Forex. There must be some good Forex brokers out there that are not bucket shops. IB I hear is ok in that sense. A talented trader like you might do well in Forex.
I'll be interested to see how your forex trading goes Abe but I would guess if you go through a 'stop hunting' time period or the spread being outrageous during econ news, you may reconsider. And make sure you do your homework on what broker to go through!

I need to do more research about Forex.
Good luck Abe.

Thanks.