Here is a list I have compiled of why I personally trade futures. I posted a similar message in the stocks forum trying to bring users to see the advantages of futures. I figure I'll post it here two because this is a more relevant place.

+ I can day trade without needing $25,000+ in the account! I have two accounts with about 10K in them.
+ Comissions are decent $4/round turn trip on the YM
+ Tax Reasons + You don't have to list every sale on your return! (for people in the USA)
+ It's liquid enough. Market orders are instant. No weird fills
+ The spreads are never going to be huge like they can get on stocks
+ Focusing on one instrument day in and day out is less complicated and more productive
+ I can sleep in! As I dont have to wake up at 6am and scan for stocks to trade
+ Share size allocation is easier. I trade from 3 + 8 contracts depending on the setup
+ I've held a stock that plunged 20 pts due to random company event. While econ reports move the futures. It's never been THAT bad!
+ There are always shorts avilable!
+ Comissions are reasonable (I pay around $4.10/round trip)
+ No uptick rule (not that its going to be lasting too much longer)
+ The $5/tick range of the YM makes for lower slippage(ES, ER too volitale=bad slippage)

If you guys have any more reasons to add to this list, please reply.

[Soultrader]

Great post rwalkerx,

Let me begin by saying welcome to our forums. You'll be surprised to see that most of us here are index futures traders. I also initially started trading Nasdaq stocks but that changed instantly when I met the eminis. I havent looked back ever since.

The eminis are the future of intraday trading in my opinion. Do you trade the YM primarily?

[Reaver]

Welcome to the forums. glad to have you. Nice list by the way

[torero]

Well, one man's treasure is another's man trash. But don't diss the ER2 just cause it's volatile. Daytraders breathe and thrive on volatility and it suits me just fine. The slippage is never that bad from my experience, worse is 3 ticks when the market was just wild ie. a major surprise fed news, but most of the the time is 1 tick. But the cherry is you get the bang for the buck. But that's just me.

Back to the topic at hand, I agree with the list completely in every way and I'll add a few more:

1) Bang for the buck. You make 1-3 trades a day and can make as much as the multiple stock juggling stocktraders do.
2) Less stressful, only need to follow 3 eminis max if you so desire instead keep up with 5-10 holdings everyday.
3) Don't have to follow the indices and sectors, eminis ARE the indices. Stocktraders constantly have to follow the cues from the indices to track their positions. That means more eyes to follow all these charts.
4) Less investment in hardware and software cost. I used to have 3 PCs with 3 monitors, now only 1. Used for have 4 charting services, now 1, another as backup and it's free.
5) NO gaps to deal with, market always open. Terrorists attacked London underground early hours of the morning, if you wanted to, could be out in minutes and not wait until open and dump the stocks along with panicking crowd.
6) NO market makers, no games.
7) NO routing decisions to make: "ECN? ARCA? REDBOOK????? Oh man, could have gotten a better fill with ARCA!" Geez, Louise.

I'm sure there are more intangibles I haven't mentioned but it certainly has made my trading and personal life much easier to live.

very true.. thanks for the input.. i have a few friends who are day trading stocks. im trying to convert um

[torero]

I think they can only this for so long. After a year, I got burned out and wasn't fun anymore. I had to find a way to work less and make more. Eminis was the answer. Took a while to get adjusted but work hard and persistence paid off.

agree. I've had my first profitable year and its been trading the YM every single day

[TinGull]

Nice work rwalkerx! Love to see you in the chatroom in the mornings when we trade. Most trade the YM...but there are a couple who brave that tornado that is ER2