If you are familiar with futures, you may want to trade forex futures. I trade both the cash/spot forex and forex futures, and get better fills and less hassle with the futures.

Download a free trial of NinjaTrader and take a look at both; can’t beat the margin rates.
http://www.ampfutures.com/index.php

You can short sell anything that is marginable, including forex.

http://www.investopedia.com/university/forexmarket/#axzz1eKpMNZiK

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/forex.asp#axzz1eKpMNZiK

http://coveredcall.wordpress.com

If you know very little about options, start at the OIC site

http://www.888options.com/

and read through the “basics” “advanced” and “strategy” pages. Then

(1) Start paper trading (simulating trades on paper without actually making them)
(2) Take the “online classes” at the OIC site mentioned above.

If you have questions while going through the above steps, do not hesitate to ask. As well as (or instead of, if you prefer) asking here, I suggest asking on the message board at

http://messages.yahoo.com/Business_%26_Finance/Investments/forumview?bn=4686677%23optionsquestionsansweredhere

You may also want to post paper trades on the message board at

http://messages.yahoo.com/Business_%26_Finance/Investments/forumview?bn=4686677%23optiontradestraderecommendations

where you may, or may not, get some feedback from options traders about the pros and cons of the trade.

Once you have the background from the above steps, buy and read at least one or two good books on options. “Options as a Stragegic Investment” by Lawrence McMillan is probably the most widely cited and praised option book, but it is long and, IMHO, a little dated. “Options Volatility & Pricing” by Sheldon Natenberg is another classic and widely praised book on options, but some people find it too technical. The important thing is to find a good book that you are comfortable with. You can browse through a number of books at a large library, a large bookstore, or at amazon.com to find those you like.

When you are ready to start doing actual trades (which may be before finishing reading any books you buy) start with small, relatively low risk trades. Many people say covered calls are good for novice traders.

Keep asking questions when you have them.

One final comment. Offering to pay someone when you start making money may get you advice that is not in your best interest. If you said you would pay me a certain number of dollars when you started making money, I might steer you towards strategies that will usually make money but that could have masive losses, while if you said you would pay me a certain percentage of your gains, I might steer you towards trades that had the potential to make massive gains or losses, since I would profit if there were huge gains but have no loss if you lost all your money.

If the new company has several underwriters then you will need at least $ 1,000,000.00 USD PER UNDERWRITER.

Although transaction cost is a factor, it should not determine the “best” broker. Neither should “ease of use.” You will grow and learn as a trader, and you don’t want to grow out of the simple “front end” and have to switch.

There is not just one online broker for everyone, just like there is not one computer for everyone. Each has to be tailored to the application. You don’t just buy a Dell, or an IBM name. You may need more or less storage, memory, and processor speed.

Whoever answers this question, will give you the broker that they have settled on and now use. But their criteria are different than yours, and you don’t tell us what yours are.

Are you trading stocks, commodities, futures, options, or all of these? If the latter, TerraNova is the only one that you can trade everything, real time, online, direct access. A lot of online brokerages claim to give you direct access, but if they take more than a second to execute your trade, it aint direct.

Find the articles online that have evaluated and compared online brokerages. I found a good one online in Barron’s, but you’ll find others in the trading magazines.

This is worth putting a little time and effort into, because it’s a pain to switch, so once you choose, you’re kinda stuck with it.

Townsend Electronics, the Parent company of TerraNova, is the one that digitized and electronified the Nasdaq. They are technological industry leaders and have a powerful and well built trading system.

What you should try is a free trial of their Investor platform, which is free. You only get one window to trade from. I use RealTick with five monitors, but I pay $ 175/mo for this sizzlin’ package. Otherwise, RealTick and Investor programs are essentially the same. Their rates are good also, but of course, it depends on how often you trade. It will take you months to learn all the bells and whistles of what this program can do.

The other top-of-the line program is TradeStation, but it costs big bucks to join and operate. Some people consider it the Cadillac of trading and technical analysis.

TerraNova is the home of the Day Trader, so they think nothing of you making several hundred trades a day. You don’t have to do that, but it’s okay here if you do.