How much capital to start trading forex?
For a newbie, I guess it’s always best to start small and gradually increase your trading account as you gain experience and confidence in your trading strategy.
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Hmm. 
I would say around $500 is reasonable enough. 
I know it’s tempting to start with $10 or $50, but undercapitalization could make your trading even trickier. 
If you’re not ready to invest that money yet, there’s nothing wrong with waiting and saving up for it. 
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You can try a prop firm if capital is an issue. remember that having a lot less capital can cause you to use lot sizes that are not good for risk management. If you are going to start a $500 accout please practice proper risk management. their is a calculator on babypips website that will help you with how big or small your lost size should be for your account size to practice proper risk management. I took my tax return and funded my account it it which I did not need it for bills so it was a plus for me but if you have already spent the tax return I would say $1000-$3000 is safe however you can start with $100 as well again be careful because smaller accounts are easier to blow.
if you want to gradually grow your account, You should stick with a demo account until you get comfrtable with your trading and stick to a strategy you are comfrable with.
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i always say that $250 is the absolute minimum you need, to trade 0.01 lots (“1 micro-lot”)
to do that, or anything like it, obviously you’ll need a broker that allows micro-lot trades (not all do)
the important thing to understand is that when you’re trading any small account, the primary purpose is to gain experience, not to make money
i would trade on demo only until you’ve done a few hundred trades without ever having a high-to-low drawdown of more than 5% of your capital, however big or small the amount of money is
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“It’s not the tools it’s the carpenter”
You need to get into the flow of been profitable consistently.Regardless of the size of account
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Wow! Not all of us have this ability to start with such a big amount. But if you don’t think you have sufficient trading knowledge, you shouldn’t go for such a big investment.
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USD?? That’s a lot of $$!
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No it’s really not. When trading 75k if you make 1% you make $750 and that’s literally nothing.
When you’re trading 50 million and you make 1% you make 500K.
Would you send 50 million dollars to an offshore brokerage that is not regulated and could just close its doors and evaporate into the wind?
I spoke with an offshore brokerage yesterday, coinexx, and when I asked them if they’re regulated their response was to tell me that they are a reputed broker yes I said reputed.
When coinexx ask me how much experience I had as a trader I told them I had 90 days experience but that I felt like I had it down pretty solid. Their response was to ask me how much I wanted to deposit.
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Think about a strategy before you think about capital. Once you have a strategy you can demo trade it with no capital, $0, for as long as you need.
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You can start trading with a minimal and it’s nota big fact but experience is the major fact that is badly needed for traders.
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Big capital might help you earn big amount but you should know that risk is also associated. So, I think you shouldn’t start with big capital until you don’t have sufficient experience.
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Your capital isn’t secure as long as you don’t have sufficient trading experience. So, don’t think of amount, think of trading experience.
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It’s better to start small to avoid risks, maybe around $1000. This shall give you a chance to make a profit and manage risk. Obviously, this depends on your risk tolerance as well. But the most important “capital” is a profitable trading strategy XD
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This is another popular question posed by those new to trading and one I see answered incorrectly all the time:
‘Start on demo!’
‘Start with at least 10K!’
‘Absolutely no less than 100K!’
It’s all pure nonsense!
These are just arbitrary amounts that will have no bearing on your success or lack of it.
Only one thing ultimately determines your success as a trader and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise: your edge!
If you have a clearly defined edge, you can start an account of any size and grow it to any size using that edge and the basic principles of good risk management.
For example, if you’ve got a $50 trading account and your strategy has a 50% strike rate with a 1.:5:1 reward to risk ratio, keep your trades small enough, say between 0.5% and 1%, and your risk of ruin will be negligible. As long as your strategy holds up and you maintain good risk management, your account will grow. I’m just using this as an example of course but profitable trading really is as simple as that!
However, in reality, if you were to try trading a small $50 account in this way, the odds would be against you succeeding not because of the given amount you started with but because the gains would be so negligible for so long that you would ultimately become bored and apathetic.
As a general rule of thumb, the smaller the account, the more skill, discipline and patience it takes to grow it.
If you only have access to limited funds, instead of starting out with a small account, and making sub-optimal decisions because you don’t really care enough about the gains and losses, you could try trading a much larger account with a prop firm. Depending on the prop firm you use, the price and conditions of their ‘challenge’ and the strength of your edge, this can be a really good way to maximise your money and start trading a much larger amount of capital than you would otherwise have access to.
Just remember, the same principles of good risk management apply whether you are trading your own capital or someone else’s.
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It’s not a lot of you have millions for sure!
What are the downsides to trading with a prop firm?
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A lot of people would tell you that the downsides to trading with a prop firm are things like the cost of the challenges and the strict rules in place when it comes to actually trading their funded accounts.
I would totally disagree.
Failing challenges and blowing accounts is often inevitable, even for experienced traders.
Setting aside enough for current and future challenges in anticipation of blown accounts can actually help teach new and aspiring traders how to better manage their capital. Likewise, having to abide by strict rules when it comes to trading a funded account can help them to learn how to more effectively manage risk.
To be honest, for those reasons alone, I see very little downside to trading with a reputable prop firm, especially for those new to trading.
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Hmm interesting. I’ve always thought they just prey on new traders but I guess without access to a significant amount of capital, it could be a good option.
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It is my opinion that you would not have much security with a prop firm because they can and will terminate your agreement with them in two seconds they will kick you out and you’re done but if you take the time to raise your own capital and trade your own account then you control it
If you’re trading large capital in the millions even the low millions you can trade with no brokerage and absolutely no risk of margin call ever.
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