Mark,
2x is a healthy leverage. Even 3x is borderline manageable. The kind of leverage that CLX is talking about is 15x to 25x kind of thing, which is outright dangerous.
I used to use 5x leverage and trade the ES when my account was small. These days i don't go beyond the 2x lev ETFs.
I was back on the original point.
I agree with you, otherwise. I probably told you this years ago, but when I first started trading, the OEX options were brand, spanking new. My dad loaned me 10 grand and I added a bit of savings, and started trading options. At first I was very conservative, but I started getting hits. I got more and more aggressive as I ran a string of 39 trades without a loss over $100! By the time I was done, I was trading 400 lots of OEX options on a $150k account (this is 1983 and I was 19-20 years old). I had NO understanding of the leverage I was using, NO understanding of the risk I was taking, NO understanding of the need to control risk, and NO understanding of my own mortality.
The market painfully addressed these lacks of understanding for me.
All I can say is that I'm glad I paid some tuition and bought a car, as I'd not have had anything to show for that effort.
It did color my trading ever since, however.
Mark