Spot forex vs futures forex:video sums it up

http://www.learningmarkets.com/Fore...n-9-forex-futures-vs-spot-forex-accounts.html

That sums it all up; imo it seems that for bigger account, longer term traders futures is better due to the rollover,commissions aren't that much since the spread is tight plus you're long term so it doesn't matter. But for someone starting out who has a tiny account then spot forex seems obviously the way to go (unless you can afford the e micros and are long term)

looking at the margins required for futures on currencies too; you need to have around $2200 to hold
overnight with CME and about $1600 to maintain. so realistically at $12.50/pip you're gonna need a decent sized account! unless you trade the e-micros; margins are around $220 for overnight and $160 to maintain, so around $1.25/pip ...probably best to have $3-4k to trade those imo

Not having to battle your local forex broker is big but the last I remember the mini/micro futures used to have very limited liquidity and spreads were high. I haven't checked recently but I suspect it is still so. Daytrading these can be more headache than spot forex.

Peter

i personally wouldn't be daytrading them anyway; i guess i'll have to make do with retail spot forex until i can build up a big enough account (3-4k) for the e-micros and imo 25-30k to start trading the big currency futures ($12.50/pip)