> Even if you are a professional trader you'll take a bath on margin over the long run. Id say not. Say your borrowing at 7%, markets tend to average around 10

> Even if you are a professional trader you'll take a bath on margin over the long run. Id say not. Say your borrowing at 7%, markets tend to average around 10-14% return a year. So if you were doing some passive investing on margin you'd be likely to increase earning. The issue is it heightens risk and the speed of losses for those that invest badly, but being margin it should largely avoid losses greater than the principle invested which is better than other speculative investments so not all that bad.