You can still succeed with starting capital of $500 or Less

Beginner Questions
1

I have heard many newbies ask if they can make good profit with $500 or less. You can even do it with $100 capital but it will require a lot of patience and more discipline than with a larger account especially if you are not willing to set a long term goal and stick to a plan.

Personally I have tried using small amounts of capital and have been quite successful but also have failed in certain aspects. You see due to the limited amount of equity you will need to keep your open trades to a maximum of two, otherwise you will end up kicking yourself when you get in on a certain setup…

One thing that can also help you succeed with a low capital is HIGH LEVERAGE. If you’ve got $500 or less in your account, you can use a leverage of 1:500 to increase your pip value. But you must be very careful when using high leverage. You can do this by developing a good working strategy that you can trust.

For example a few months back USDJPY was in a very fast moving mode-I am sure it is now-
Ok so here is what I did and still do. I set my leverage to 1:500 and I watch this pair for at least 30mins each day. Starting from 10pm GMT in most cases, this pair will define its direction (you can only know its direction if you carefully monitor it at least 30mins for 10pm GMT). Once it has defined its direction (it could be an upward trend or downward trend), I place my trade. Since, I am sure that it will move at least 10pips away from my entry point, I usually buy 1 lot size (which makes my pip value $10). However, I make sure I close my trade after each 5 or 10 pip movements, no need to be greedy. With this strategy, I make at least $30 each day. One day I mad $350 in 5mins. – You can call this scalping. One reason why this strategy works for me is because Profiforex Forex Broker allows scalping and offers this 1:500 leverage plus tight spreads. I also take this risk because I can count on their execution speed to pull me out and get me in whenever I want. I am also increasing the Bonus I got from Best Forex Broker, Online Forex Trading Broker - PaxForex Both brokers are ok for me anyway, as long as I get to withdraw my profits.

Now, who says you can’t succeed with a starting capital of $500 or less. YOU CAN! With the right strategy, focus and discipline, YOU CAN!

Here is a quote from a trader here
“Sometimes, I even trade the news! I wait for lvl 2 or lvl 3 news events and I trade the 5 minute gap after the release with either the way it moves drastically in favor of positive news or with a fade of that move based on news that was released in the previous 3 days from the currency that is being traded against

For example;
GBP/USD
US releases ADP number as positive, sell GBP/USD unless GBP released positive news within the same or past days otherwise I will wait 5-15 min until the good news rally stalls and I buy the GBP.

In any case it works for me as long as you have profit goals I usually take $5-$10 per trade as I am willing to build my account for many years to come! (Patience is the most important part of trading IMO)”
This trader also started with less than $500. You can Learn to grow a low capital.

2

You can start with $500 in a mini-account and grow it over time as long as you remain realistic with profits you can achieve. I think starting with $500 is by far better than not starting at all. I think $500 is great to start with in order to learn how to trade and once you achieved consistent returns you can always increase your deposit.

3

Being realistic with profit! You have a good point here. One mistake that newbies make is aiming at huge profits when they’ve not mastered the act of trading.

4

oi Isrealz.
obrigado pelo seu pos.
depois de ter algum tempo de demo sem pips constantes , vou seguir para uma conta real. voçe nao tens mais exemplos de sistemas de trabalho de confiança?
abraço :slight_smile:

5

hi Isrealz.
thanks for your post.
after some time without constant pips demo, I’ll follow for a real account. You do not have more examples of reliable work systems?
hug :slight_smile:

6

How about a 100usd starting deposit?Is this amount just okey for a newbie to start and learn live forex trading.I traded with a demo account for few months to learn and I want to step up learning and considering to open a small account to be my education fee in live trading.

7

It’s ok to start out with a hundred-bucks-account … as long as you do so trading nano-lots, which aren’t offered by every broker.
‘Rambo35’ made a good point in his post (#2) when he said one has to be [I]realistic with profit expectations[/I].
Obviously trying to make 500 dollars profit a month from a starting balance of a 100 bucks isn’t feasible.

The thing to do is calculating profit on percentage of account balance rather than on absolute figures.
If you consistently increase your account by let’s say 4-8% a month you may call yourself a successful trader; it doesn’t matter that this represents the price of a pizza only if you’re running an account you’ve started with a hundred dollars.
You’ve been more successful than a trader with a 100k account who has made 3,000 dollars in that same month.

The trap which kills off many small and tiny accounts is trying to earn enough to make a (theoretical) living off of such an account.
If you need five thousand dollars a month to pay your bills and enjoy life, and you want to finance this by trading forex you’ll need a starting balance which is in relation to the money you want to make.
Expecting to make 50% profit every month is a fool’s game.

So if you need 5k a month and you’ve realized that averaging even 5% won’t work every single month, you’ll know that you need to start out with 200k to achieve this.

The magic word is Accumulation … in combination with [I]Patience[/I] and, of course, [I]Money Management[/I], which is the most basic rule to observe.
[I]Averaging[/I] 4% a month (which definitely can be done, even though there will be months where one makes less or even loses) will make 5,000 grow into roughly 50,000 within five years; in ten years your 5,000 will become more than half a million.

Better start small and initially earn small than start too big and lose big.

Cheers,
Paladin

1 Like
9

Yes, you can still succeed with $100. All you have to do is register micro or Cent account that allows you to trade with the smallest amount. With time and with a good working strategy you will grow your account. Large capital only allows you to make bigger profit per trade. Most brokers allows micro account with a minimum deposit of $1 or $10, you can find a list here: Top-us-forex-broker - ForexSanity

10

Maintaining the profit for a long-time is success. I know some traders can gain a lot of profit but then they can lose all they have. That’s not successul, it’s just a temporary victory…

11

This is true, but the simple scalping idea I gave on this thread will help to keep your money no matter how things turn out. If a new trader should follow this simple logic, there is no way you are going to blow your account. The truth is, scalpers don’t blow their account because their eyes are always on the screen.

12

So scalpers don’t succumb to trader paralysis?

13

thanks for your advice.I also asked this question in other forums and got the same advice to trade with micro lots.

14

If you are looking for brokers that offer 1:500 then you should probably find an offshore broker. This is because the Dood-Frank Act has prevented many other brokers from giving high leverages. The highest leverage offered by most UK/US/AUS is 1:50. But I think some offshore brokers are very good for trading. There is where you will find the lowest spread and trading charges or commission fee.

15

nice motivating thread! but it gives me more questions then answers, i would be very glad if you could answer some of them.

  1. when you watch the charts for 30 mins, what timeframe do you use?
  2. why dont you just log in 30 minutes later and look att the chart, to physically sit and watch the charts can´t maka any diference?
  3. how do you know after 30 minutes the trend won´t come to an end? it could happen at any time.
  4. when do you get in and out of a trade? and if the traid goes againt you when is the tome to close?

Br
anfO

1 Like
16

Thanks for this post - it has been enlightening.

17

Hi,

Just to let you know brokers in the UK that are FCA regulated can offer leverage up to 1:500 and 1:400, only in the US the regulations on leverage has become strict.

Also regulated brokers offer low spreads and commission free trading.

One wonders why you encourage trading with offshore…hmm…no good reason comes to mind! except one, but I’ll keep it to myself :slight_smile:

18

You have a point. There is only one benefit of regulated brokers and that is fund security. However, if you are wise enough, you will know that there is no such thing as fund security anymore in Forex. As long as forex is concerned Regulated and unregulated brokers are the same in terms of money security. Offshore brokers have an upper hand when it comes to providing better trading conditions and more flexibility.

19

You did not give any reason why you think the FCA brokers are better. Please don’t give the regulation speech. I’ll agree with you only if you tell me one reason why you think regulated brokers are better, then we can start with the comparisons.

20

anfO asks some very good questions - I was going to ask the same. Anyone care to answer these?

21

LOL, you guys make me laugh, FCA offers many different benefits to client BESIDES SECURITY AND SAFETY OF FUNDS on the other hand you don’t want me to give you the regulations speech…again what really makes me wonder is why why why why on earth would someone push traders to go for unregulated brokers rather than regulated ones… I know the reason and I’ll keep it to myself…and it’s not flexibility in trading…because anything an unregulated broker can offer is also offered by regulated ones…believe me I’ve been there…it’s a lost case trust me the only person making money behind the unregulated brokers is the boss himself…kitching kitching…$$$$$$$$$…I bet he’s driving the car every trader wishes one day to drive by funding his with account with less than 500$ and getting persuaded by the dreams that unregulated brokers sell him…