I’m feeling much too well disposed toward the forum to inflict that on it! 
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Well, 4 trades this morning with 0.5 RRR and a 100% record, hmmmm.
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And still cannot use 30% of the bank to place a trade, so I think this 20 pip challenge is bogus. Most I could do was lot size of 0.01, that uses half of my margin.
Anyone got any other broker recommendations? (This was Trade Nation, TD365)
I think the only way you can do this is using a prop firm account, I bet they will love that! 
The last trade in the challenge is £9k so I think you’d need a £1M prop firm account, depending on their rules.
Lot size would be 725 for that, so based on my terrible maths 72,500 (Lot size 0.01 vs 725) * £10, you’d need £725k or thereabouts, to have sufficient margin.
I think it might be the brokers’ rules about margin and stuff that are bogus, rather than your challenge?
Being in the UK, can you do this by spreadbetting? And would that get around the problem you describe?
Possibly, does spread betting use margin?
Yeah, I don’t know how much, though. No experience here, just wondered with your being in the UK. Suggestion/question, not “advice”!
Its main advantage is that profits are tax free.
A very well informed guy called @tommor who posts in other forums (and here!) uses spreadbetting, has much experience, and would be the one to ask about margin, I think.
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Well in theory it shouldn’t need margin as it’s a “bet” but not sure myself, I do have a spreadbetting trading account with Pepperstone, never used it but I can just drop £20 in there and see what it does.
I used to do a lot of matched betting myself a few years back, so I am more familiar with betting than trading.
Good point about tax, that’s interesting.
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So are CFD’s, though? And if a spreadbet firm wants to offset its own net liabilities in a market, it will need some margin from clients, maybe, in case it can’t honor stop losses? I don’t know what I’m talking about, here! 
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Spreadbets on financial instruments do require margin. As a rough guide, a position of £1 per pip on EUR/USD might with some firms require about £400 of margin, £450 on GBP/USD, £550 on USD/JPY etc. The most expensive (in margin terms) forex pair I have seen is GBP/CAD, about £650.
But positions can be tiny - minimum position sizes might be e.g. £0.08 per pip on EUR/USD and GBP/USD, £0.06/pip on USD/JPY, GBP/CAD, and so on. So a £0.08 per pip position on EUR/USD with a 100 pip stop-loss distance would incur a maximum loss of only £8, and margin would be about £32.
If you make a profit, there is no requirement to even declare this with a tax filing, even if you have no other income.
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That’s very cool. Many of us envy you that! 
Perhaps you were exceeding their margin requirements with small account -
Be very cautious with brokers offering higher than 200:1 especially those regulated in Vanuatu - you could finish up with Russian Mafia stealing everything!
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That’s not clear if it’s true or not. HMRC were taking action against somebody doing this as their sole income. The rules are vague and I think the HMRC lost, but I don’t think it’s a clear cut situation.
If you have a job, it’s 100% tax free.
I thought the challenge is that 20 pips equates to 30% of your account, not using 30% of your margin. Or maybe that’s what you mean?
I have made more than the Income Tax minimum threshold from financial spreadbetting whilst having no employment. No tax was levied, HMRC did not want any information from me. Obviously CGT did not apply either since no assets are involved in spreadbetting.
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How do you mean the HMRC didn’t want any information from you? Did you ask them or just not tell them anything? If you’re making small amounts, I doubt it’ll even be on their radar.
The case I remember was a guy making a lot of money and they claimed he was a professional trader so tax should be paid on it.
Many traders and some gamblers on horses etc. want to be registered for Income Tax but the HMRC have for decades resisted this - most of them lose money most years and the tax offsetting would make the whole principle unprofitable for HMRC.
Obviously the SB firm notifies government of accounts, profits and losses, since their operation is subject to taxation. Same as the employer notifies if they are paying you a salary, even if it is below the minimum tax theshold - all income is taxable (even the State Pension - I have had more than one person tell me the State Pension is tax-free, it isn’t, it’s just very low).
Brokers always “hedge their bets” when advising on taxation on financial SB winnings - but the situation in real life is clear, SB winnings are not income and cannot therefore be taxed as income.
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not something I need to worry about in the near future. But I would like to try this as my primary source of income. I just have too many dependents to make that kind of risk.