This is simply not always true. some of the spreadbetting firms out there are essentially set up on retail business practices rather than bookmakers ones. one of the spread bet companies i use simply uses your money to take a position in a corresponding future, and makes money on charging you more than they pay in the spread. this is why these companies want you to win, because you're more likely to keep betting, more likely to make them more money. The reality is that most people dont have the capital needed to start trading forex or options in margin accounts, at least at the start. even if they did, their capital would probably be so small that they might as well not "be in the game" you seem to imply by your post that you can influence the market by your position? any retail trader that thinks this is a fool. add to this the fact that in many countries profit from spreadbetting is not subject to tax while profit from options would be subject to cgt, and it becomes quite an attractive place to start. this guys problem is not what method he is using to call the market.
One pseudo spreadbet firm(are they back in business yet) charges you a premium for effectively placing futures trades on your behalf. So you wont pay tax on your earnings, but you're less likely to make a profit with the extra cost.
To open a futures account requires no more account margin than the spreadbet firm in question.
It doesn't change the basic flaw in the spreadbetters business model.
My original remarks were about the advfntrader's understanding of the difference between trading and gambling, that trading IS BASICALLY gambling.
That by simply adding risk management, it becomes controlled gambling or less like gambling and metamorphosises into something else.
This is a terminal flaw in his thinking.
Being in the market, is not about my positions being of anymore influence than a butterfly's movements to a hurricane, you're missing the point.
To be a trader, you have to trade the product. A fishmonger has to sell fish. A trader in financial markets has to buy and sell futures contract or the like. If you spreadbet with a conventional firm, you are not trading. You have no position in the market, therefore do not participate in the markets movements. The solid inextricable attachment to the market is of key psychological importance. When you are in the market you better understand the demand and supply dynamics of price and volume. Irrespective of your own position's influence.
advfntrader still hasn't fully grasped his problem. Hence why he like many others is way out of his depth. With a gambler's brain, leaving things to chance by greater or lesser degrees, is the primary cause of failure. No matter what attempts you apply to control the downside.
Everyone that starts out has a long way to go before they understand that psychology is the only thing that will make you money. The TA and risk control etc, is all easy, though it might take months and years to hone it to your style, but the true trader's brain gives no space to
ANY concept of gambling.
