So lately I’ve been contemplating opening a futures account. Ive been trading futures directly through Nadex using Izone/sharpshooter with spreads and have been successful at it. I love the system! But the more I trade the spreads, the more I ask myself “is it really worth it to dive into trading futures when I can get the same or very similar results trading Nadex spreads?”. I will admit, it’s a lot easier to trade futures than spreads because they don’t have options pricing built into them and you can trade them directly from a chart, but when I factor in leverage and max risk, spreads seem to make more sense. So I guess my question is, is futures really worth it? Or should I just stick to Nadex spreads? Can man live off spreads alone?! Lol
Is it really worth it? To Move from Nadex To Futures?
Jamell,
This is a question many traders ask themselves as they grow. There is an old saying that goes something like…“if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” that being said…only you can answer that question for yourself. If I were in your shoes today, what I would do is continue to grow my account using the spreads until I had the account size that I would consider opening a futures account with and then I would go ahead an open a futures account, this way you aren’t using any of your personal capital. With growth comes additional risk and we wouldn’t be challenging ourselves if we didn’t follow that growth path. Keep in mind additional risk isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it could mean trading a different instrument (i.e. futures contract vs. spread), it could also mean increasing your position size ( going from 1 contract to 2 or 3, etc.). Ultimately you have to decide if and when you are ready for the additional risk that comes with growth. With your success though using the system and with spreads, you are definitely on the right path. Good luck with whatever your decision is.
Peter
Great question man! I had the same dilemma not too long ago and I ended up choosing to trade spreads for various reasons. With NADEX, your risk is always capped. Also a whole new world opens up with non directional trading when using NADEX. You can trade the market in any condition. Futures are awesome and it’s something that I plan on doing later on in my career but there’s a reason even Darrell still loves and trades spreads every day. In the end it all comes down to what you are most comfortable with. I wish you the best with whatever path you choose to take brother!
P.S. How about that IZone Sharpshooter?! 
It depends what your goals are. Do you trade only to make the maximum possible amount of money with the minimum possible effort? Or is there perhaps a part of you that wants to learn different forms of trading, different markets, or vectors to add to your repertoire, understanding, and knowledge base? Personally I went ahead and opened a futures account with Generic Trade out of curiosity and to gain access to various markets that could not be traded with any other vector. I didn’t expect to make a whole lot of money but I had some great success trading Forex so I broke off some of my profit one day, not much only like $500, and tried it out. So far I have had good success, mostly trading the forex futures. Over time I’d like to build the account to a level where I actually have the minimum margin required to take a trade in any market, but as of yet I just dipped my toe in the water using markets I have some experience with. Whether its actually worth it is probably questionable if the goal is purely near term profit focused, but from my perspective its good for me to expose myself to different markets and trading conditions in order to learn and grow and build new understanding of the pros and cons of using different vectors.
This is why I absolutely love Apex- Traders that can actually relate! Thanks for the feedback guys. The more I read through the replies, the more I feel more confident about making a decision. I guess my biggest fear is not being versatile enough to trade in any market. i want to be a TRADER. Whether thats Nadex, futures, or forex. But, at the same time, i do believe I might be trying to expand too fast. Thanks for your opinions guys. Greatly appreciated.
As long as you start small in terms of your time and money I don’t think it hurts too much to branch out, its just a longer term investment in yourself. I have 13 different brokers and I have learned a lot about the markets by studying closely the different market conditions they offer. I have found that there is no one best broker, each broker has its pros and cons. If I want to trade a particular market I might use one broker over another because the spread is lower for example or perhaps they offer different leverage or one allows scalping another does not etc. All the markets are connected if you want to be a general trader in my humble opinion it pays in the long run to learn about all the different methods for expressing a view on the price of something whether its binary options, spreads, cfd, forex, futures, put and call options, or even long/short individual stocks for that matter. I would say don’t limit yourself but at the same time I am with you on not wanting to expand too fast and that is a legit concern for sure you want to make sure you balance your time and money effectively between short term income generation and long term growth to meet your own goals at the end of the day.
Spreads are my favorite instrument on the planet. They do limit you some in hours and markets so that would be one reason to branch out. Also you can hedge futures with spreads (ultimate hedge). But there is no reason to rush into it. Its a good skill to learn futures and forex and how to hedge them with spreads. But focus on one thing master it, make a living on it, then you can start demoing other things just to expand your knowledge and experience and opportunities.
Thanks for the advice sir! I guess the more I step back and look at it, the more it makes sense to stick to spreads for now until I gather up more capital to be able to trade futures and withstand losses without my heart beating out of my chest. lol Overall, I clearly understand everyone’s point and it’s greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot guys!