Starting amount

What is a good starting investment for FX trading?

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There is no easy answer to this - over 40 years ago i started a business with minimal capital and over those years it grew.

Would it have grown more rapidly with a larger capital start? - maybe, then maybe the discipline of limited funds helped survival in difficult times.

Trading is like any business - lots of work is actually more necessary than lots of capital. :slight_smile:

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Never risk more than you can afford to loose.
There is no set answer. Depends on how much money you got

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Hello @fqeq,

Here are some topics that may help you out with your question.

Pipzilla :coffee:

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If youā€™re thinking of putting real money into forex trading, you must already be consistently profitable with a stable strategy using a demo account.

If you arenā€™t yet demo trading, get at least one demo account right away.

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Donā€™t gamble with money you canā€™t afford to loose

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Are demo accounts free and do they consist of purely hypothetical scenarios?

Demo accounts are free (in my case with FBS).

About the ā€˜hypotheticalā€™ scenario part, the FX prices are real though, but the demo dollars are fake (like monopoly money --just for simulation / play).

Well I just tried FBS last week, I hope my answers are correct. Correct me if Iā€™m wrong thou.

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Yes, demo accounts are free. So you can have more than one and try out different brokers, different strategies. The prices ought to be identical to the real prices seen in a real money account from the same broker.

Thatā€™s awesome! Did you learn about FX trading through FBS or BabyPips?

This is not easy to answer. Some traders tend to start off with $100 to test the waters, and some started with $1000 to go all the way in. I think it falls on you whether you are ready to trade with $100 or $1000.
The one thing I should let you know that you should be prepared before starting on trading.

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I personally think $100 is too small and $300 is the minimum, but thatā€™s just based on my experience. I feel like Iā€™d have blown my account in weeks with $100. :sweat_smile:

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As of now, as for the exact sources, I canā€™t say for certainā€¦ As I think nowadays you can learn from many sources, as there are many freely available sources online. I have learned from many2 unmentionable sources, here there youtube mostly too I think.

I am very much beginner in forex myself. I have been wanting to try trading forex for some time now, and that COVID has given me the time, and the recent AUD dip (fall) has provided the push to jump in.

As for your original question: ā€œNever risk more than you can afford to looseā€ is a very very very good advice BTW. It is better if you are comfortable &/ confident with the $20 in your account, that you would be a defensive $200 account holder imo.

There are few stories of peoples starting small (hundreds or even tens of dollars) and multiplied their capital after some time, there are also plenty plenty plenty of stories of people starting big and losing out all their moneyā€¦

SO be Wiseā€¦

If you a re a beginner trader I suggest starting with a smaller amount to avoid higher risks and from blowing up your account.

You start with what you can afford to lose

My two ā€œcentsā€ (pun kinda intended)ā€¦

  1. Start with what you can afford to lose, as others have replied. Should be able to keep living without the money in your trading account.

  2. Start with enough to accommodate your risk management (surprised no one else here mentioned this yet?). I have enough in my account, and keep my positions small enough, to only risk about 1% of the account in a trade.

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There is no good starting amount. Trading is about learning the basics of how it works. If you do not have a trading plan, system, goals that are achievable and a strategy that is profitable you will lose your money. It took me one year of and - $600 in losses to finally realize I was trading wrong. Once I stopped doing all of the things that were not working, and started getting into demo trading with a plan, and strategy I started winning more trades. Now, I am growing my live account with a deposit of $55. I now have more control over my emotions, mindset, and I know what kind of trader I am, and how I want to trade. I am seeing better results, and am happy with them. So, you cannot think about how much money will it take to make more money, but think instead of how will I trade to make the money i want to? Once you can master a solid trading plan and system you will be profitable with the deposit that you put in. Always start at the basics of understanding how to read what the market is doing so you can know how to place your trades. Good luck on your trading journey.

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Best answer to the question Iā€™ve seen so far. Agreed.

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BTWā€¦ i would like to add to my previous reply.
I would like to just edit my previous reply, but unable tooā€¦ not sure why /& how ?

In regard of starting amount, you should start with the amount you are comfortable and afford / ready to looseā€¦ but also, you have to keep in mind, if you start with amount too small, then you will probably have a small free marginā€¦

I am not sure if I can explain this well here, since I am a newbie myself and not that very knowledgeable yet tooā€¦

But if you have a small free margin &/ equity, then YOUR CHANCE OF GETTING A STOP LOSS MARGIN CALL ( when you have an/ a few open position(s)-- thatā€™s loosing money), GETS HIGHER.

The simple logic is that, when you have an / few open position(s), if those positions is loosing money, then the amount of money loss, cannot go exceed your balanceā€¦ (from what I know currently). Basically your balance CANā€™T GO NEGATIVE. Once it start touch Negative, your open positions will automatically close (Stop Loss Margin Call) and you 'll loose money.

Thatā€™s basically what can happen if you have a really small amount in your trading account.

$20 can be adequate only if youā€™re very2 lucky, will likely just be just too small on most situations. $200 or $300 is probably safe imo. But again, that is dependent on your bet amount(s)ā€¦

I hope that adds to my previous reply and can clarify a bit more.
If I am not that accurate, pls correct me.

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It is best to trade with the smallest capital possible and with the smallest fraction in each position (lot).
ā€œDividing the eggs into several baskets, in case something unexpected or accident happens, you preserve most of the eggs, avoiding losing everythingā€.