best way to leverage on stocks?

well my friend says he is going through with his 'edge' (who knows...maybe if i help him enough i'll get it too!) but he's wondering how best to leverage stocks? he thinks spreadbetting could be ok for a while...but what after that? SSFs tend to be rather illiquid, CFDs offer a lot of leverage but im not sure on their liquidity....options are liquid but im not sure they give the kind of leverage he's looking for

any insights?

Trading stocks on margin is the most direct way to play them in a leveraged fashion without resorting to the derivatives market for any other option.

Rhody Trader said:

Trading stocks on margin is the most direct way to play them in a leveraged fashion without resorting to the derivatives market for any other option.

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he doesnt want to participate in the underlying as the edge could then become obvious and erode etc

Chartsy said:

he doesnt want to participate in the underlying as the edge could then become obvious and erode etc

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Not great logic since any other market he plays in will be thinner than that of the underlying.

may be thinner but in consideration of leverage....

When I said thinner I meant if he's worried about edge visibility he's more likely to have that in a thin market where there are fewer players at work.