Not sure where to start. What are the advantages to trading futures as opposed to Nadex? It seems like Apex promotes the use of Nadex while a lot of traders here actually prefer to trade futures. Any thoughts?
Neither one is really “better” than the other…
Nadex is like trading futures with “training wheels” So it is generally recommended to start there.
From a personal opinion, some reasons as to why have a futures account…
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If its NinjaTrader… you can trade directly off the platform and chart itself… instead of from a web browser…
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You can already have your stop loss/ trailing stop / take profits set and submitted at the same time that you submit an order (this is actually a big thing for me)
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Unlimited profit potential
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Can hold a trade for days
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Dont have to worry about premium and proximity
As for why Nadex may work better
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Capped Risk You know exactly how much you can lose/ make before you enter a trade
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No chance of a margin call
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Can trade some various Spot Forex currencies with the same account… Dont need a separate Forex account
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Unique way of being able to trade News Events ( With Iron Condors and Straddles)
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Able to enter trades with less money up front. With Ninja Trader… most instruments will have an initial $500 day trading requirement. With Nadex sometimes you can find the daily spreads (best option) for like $80
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Better/more funding/withdrawal options. My bank wouldnt let me send a wire transfer to fund my NinjaTrader account… so I had to send a check. And that added an extra 10 days before my account was funded. With Nadex you can use a debit card or an ACH to fund as well.
Nadex is a great option for us little guys just starting out… or even if you want something more low key… No matter how much demoing you do… going from $1 tick to $5 or more can be a bit nerve racking. With Nadex. you can slowly work your way up there… with 2 , 3 etc contracts. (except for NQ… 2 NQ spreads = 1 NQ future)
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Great question! Matrix pretty much said everything I would have said. Having the futures account is useful to keep the live data feed for charting which is needed for both Nadex and futures. The longer I trade the more attractive Nadex becomes actually simply due to the capped risk aspect. I personally have no interest in holding trades for longer than a day so I don’t need that. When I think about the amount of money that is at risk just even trading one futures contract, it boggles the mind. I can make just as much money trading Nadex as futures so no concerns there. The interface is easier with futures, but there are so many stress free ways to trade Nadex. The two can be combined in the Ultimate Hedge strategy. Bottom line, if I have to only pick one, it would be Nadex.
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Excellent insight as always Ronin.
I should have probably asked this as well or at least made a list of each of their various strengths/weaknesses…
And never know… maybe Apex will come out with its own ATM add-on to the scanner one day…
hint hint… nudge nudge 
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