Starting Capital

I did post this question earlier but can’t find it now on here so maybe it didn’t go through properly.
I am reading through the BabyPips school section and enjoying the knowledge that it provides very much. It’s a great resource to have available.

I am a bit surprised by the amount of money it says you need to have to start trading in Forex. Not for a minute wishing to critisize, and not wishing to minimise the enormous task in being successful at Forex trading, I think needing [B]$50k-$100k[/B] to begin trading is quite a large amount of money for any ordinary Joe Public to find.

I was wondering what most people on here begin with? I think also if we consider the rule that we should only trade with a sum that we can afford to lose without it effecting our true finances and life, in other words what we can afford to lose, it seems a lot of money to talk in terms of being able to lose without it effecting your life, $50k-$100k. I know I can’t afford to lose that and neither can any of my colleagues or friends I associate with. I was just wondering what everyone thinks on this point and on Starting capital levels. I can’t believe everyone here has waited or been able to kick off with upwards of $50k in their account but there again maybe I’m wrong. :confused:

Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
[B]BARRY[/B]

Hi barry,

I am not qualify to answer this questions because i havent gone live yet.
My capital will probably be $3000 or $5000.

I ever asked some of those season people who had started trading at other forum What is their starting capital. Most of them are quite confidential about disclosing. However, they say it is rather up to individual. They do have standard account and microaccount for testing their other strategy.

Anyway, i think it all count down to how much you are willing to risk on that one trade if you are comfortable. The 2%-5% risk per trade. If i deposit $5000, i be trading 0.5% -1 %

regards
vin

It is a big difference between ‘trading’ and ‘make a living by trading’

Especially in Forex, you can trade with very small amounts of money. There are brokers where you can even buy only 1 unit of a currency pair, so in theory you can trade with an account of just 10$ or less. You would make a lot more money by a second ‘normal’ job, of course… but to be able to trade, nobody needs to wait until he has $50k or more. Just don’t expect to make a living by it.

When somebody really wants to make trading his main source of income, he must plan this very carefully, be completely honest to himself, and don’t underestimate the amount of needed capital. To become a full-time professional trader, it might by advisable to own at least several $100k in total. (the actual trading capital a fraction of the total capital) Or have a passive main income. There are retirees who trade forex, and it seems to keep them young and energetic. Daily engagement in the financial markets obviously keeps the brain active…

I don’t like to say it, but I must be honest on this point: Living by trading is not for everybody. To make a living with only a small amount of capital and nothing else is a near impossibility.

I think it is what he described as a wealth management portfolio.

http://forums.babypips.com/forextown/16218-where-forex-millionaires-billionaires-3.html#post67659

Having read a bit about this I wanted to add a little something.

I completely understand that for the average person to find that sort of money is hard. Personally I intend to start off trading live with at least $10,000 in a mini account but I have planned how and where this money is coming from and I know it won’t effect my life to a big extent, if anything it is a proportion of what otherwise would have gone in to savings to maybe earn 5% for the whole year!

What I am trying to say is that I know I won’t become rich off of this in a year, but if I use too low an amount the profit just won’t be worth it. I am only 20 and I do want to do this for a living because I have decided a 9-5 is not for me (even though I am at work typing this now :stuck_out_tongue: )

I would honestly say have a look at some money management articles where the maths is actually laid out in front of you. Its hard to explain but I think having read the same stuff in different variations over time it has helped instill a certain amount of… ‘if I am going to do this at all I am going to wait, build up my capital and do it properly’.

I think you should maybe target the capital needed for a mini account rather than a standard one. They do have their positives, for example, it offers more flexibility where you can control more lots still using a low leverage ratio giving you more control of your trade.

Hope this may have helped in some way…

Samurai

ooorrrr…you can start from a measly 300…leverage it high enough where 1 pip equals 1% of your account…make 16% of your account( w/ 16 pips) consistently for 60 days and u will have 1.6 million. but since its so hard to be consistent it might take a few more days…and one bad move, ur acct will hurt. but hey its only 300 dollars!!! do wutever ur comfortable with

I don�t know that much about lots, leverage but for sure, capital you�re investing with affects these issues. Anyway, it is not that profitable when the capital is too low. I think in how volatile markets are and that is why you need to support when you start losing and then it reverses giving you profits

For me, I decided when I started studying on forex that I would probably fund about $5k into an account, but not until I had demo’d for about 6 months. Well I am into my third month now and have decent numbers on demo, in the past 3.5 weeks I am up $1500 in a $2000 account. The previous month showed a gain net gain of about 20%, but that was after a 20% loss. Now I am getting the itch to trade live, but am still not 100% confident in my methods nor have any experience with 4x brokers so I plan on starting off with $500 mini with micro lots and trade the same way I am now. The only exception is scaling my pip value down by 1/4, or about $.50 US.

I must confess I have no ambition to trade for a living right now, nor even pulling money out of the account if things go well. I would be more apt to pull money out if things were going bad. Of course we all have pipe dreams…

Hello! I�m Salati. I�m really new here! I have read all ur posts and I don�t understand most of the terms� can somebody PLEASE tell me what a living is? I want to know everything about forex cause� I want to invest my money. Thanks!:eek:

enjoy and trade well

mp

[B][I]Within the great hall at Elfinore stands a wondrous coffer, precisely four cubits square and securely latched against the outside world. Inside that repository, shut away from impertinent eyes, abides many an intriquing trading secret garnered from around the world and over the ages !

As a child, i used to watch from the darkness as the secrets were debated and annotated by the elders. No one there held a single thought of my presence – BUT I KNOW WHERE THEY HID THE KEY !!
[/I][/B]

Hi Barry,
As many people here have stated, only you can decide how much you wish to start with and you’re lifestyle will dictate that.

Obviously I don’t know what kind of person you are, but if you are anything like me and many other failed traders out there I’d recommend starting with the smallest possible account that you’re broker will allow.

When I started, a friend introduced me to Forex and showed me that plan his group was working with and I thought, “Wow, really kind of this guy to show the ropes and get me started”. So I put my 10k on the table and and followed the plan religiously.

I followed the plan religiously until one day I saw a pattern forming (in my own little universe I saw a pattern forming I should say) and I played that pattern for all it was worth. In about 5 hours I made $1500. I was over the moon, and boy did I brag about it to the guys I hung out with.

The next day the pattern continue so I doubled the lot size and then guess what? The pattern just evaporated and the market went down and down and down (maybe you can guess when this was?). So I was left with these 4 lots combined with other positions I had in very difficult positions, combined with my lack of experience led to me panicking, which led to me cutting most of those trades and in the end my $10000 which had become nearly $15000 was slashed to about $3000. Geez, did that hurt, but it did provide me with two things:

  1. much less stress in my life by propelling me into looking for trading plans that were far easier to use;
  2. providing me with real life experience as to why it is really necessary to stick to a trading plan (studying from paper is almost uselss for me, I really need to experience things to see the value of how things are done or should be done - one of my great flaws I guess).

If I knew then what I knew know, I would have saved myself so much pain. Better to accumulate money slowly than to gain it quickly without the accompanying knowledge that is so much more important in this game.

Anyway, it is up to you to decide how much you will start with. Just my little story to show you what can go wrong if you don’t have the experience and knowledge to save yourself in a bad situation.

I would suggest starting with as little as possible if you are trading for less than a year because you WILL have to deposit more practically every month or so. So after about two years of training you will lose about 2k and that to me is worth it because after that you will make it back with one trade. Forex is not a game and it should not be played with!:cool: