I know everyone has their opinions about starting with a good chunk of $$$, and there are “recommended” amounts, but what if I don’t have that much? I’m looking for inspirational stories here.
Thanks
If you don’t have enough to go live, play with the demos.
In my opinion less than 1000 is very tight with a mini account and a micro account is something I’d say on my own not really investment. Even that amount only with plenty of experience as investor and with demos.
I tell you why. As beginner you make more mistakes than an experienced trader. You will lose more often and your losses will be bigger chunks. In the end, if the margin calls run in, you get a crack in your confidence while it maybe would not be like this if you would have more amount to let the trades breathe with wider stop losses and your confidence breathe with more buffer money. If people plan to have no losses, that’s just unreal. You will have losses. Which is a good thing. Because it sharpens your mind and keeps you in line with realistic expectations.
If you are a newbie at all with no investment history and no demo experience I’d stick with the suggestions from the babypips school. You know, it has to do with psycho. If you have 2000 in account and you have a loss of 100, you can still take it easy. If you have 200 in account and you have a loss of 100 - oooops! 
Take all that with the fact in mind that eurusd noise can be as high as 150 pips and even market maker accounts are more or less subject to stop hunting in the one digit pip range. No experience with other currencies so far, though.
started with £400
now trading an upper 5 figure account as well as 3 client accounts amounting to 6 figures all in less than a year 
just worry about making 5-10% a week consistantly and compounding will do the rest 
lee
What?! So you’re making an average of 30% a month?
for a period of months yes, i was doubling my account almost every two months. but now i am trading much larger sums of money i average about 2-4% a week
it seems a little unrealistic but it is completely attainable, if you can trade intraday price action, use a R:R of 2:1 risking no more than 2% on any one trade and keep a win rate of 60%+ then 5-10% a week shouldnt be a problem.
lee
Hi profitforextrader
what kind of trading style and system do you use?
It must be some kind of holy grail to do that well:D
For those beginning live trading for the first time, I still think it’s a good idea to start with SOME real money. Granted it not being a lot. I started with $200 and bummed around enough to lose half of that. It’s not until now that I have that $100 left I’ve learned the value of sticking to ONE system that works for me.
Demo trading desensitizes one from the real market. That’s actually why I think many beginners lose out. They don’t expect the emotional discrepancies between demo and live trading.
With a small amount of money to trade, even on a micro account, the idea is to learn and feel the market. It’s money you can afford to lose. The way I saw it was that initial $200 start is how much I am paying to learn the markets FIRST hand.
Now this is strictly looking at it from a beginner’s point of view. A beginner shouldn’t expect to deposit $50 and earn a living. Granted it is possible WITH TIME! I’m talking compounding the account balance daily, weekly, monthly etc.
I will say if you start small the amount of time and effort you put into a small real money gain messes with your head. You will be tempted to take larger risks than you should and try to blast your balance up.
If you have the discipline and use or come up with a way to trade that’s main focus is account growth then it is possible to to compound a small account up to a large account. It can be done in a short time a few months or a year. You may have to trade smaller time frames and risk more than 2% on a trade and trade a lot. If you have a plan and trading strat that works and you stick to it it can be done.
I just ran a $10 account up to $60 in about 20 days with what I consider a reasonable drawdown for the strat. I was averaging over 14% a day for over 20 days. it was an experiment and a test to see if me or my system would break I broke first. It took over 200 trades and a win rate of about 80%. It was exhausting and took me away from my my normal life stuff like kids and my wife and I was not sleeping much. I ended up blowing it on a few bad trades and a margin call. I decided to let it ride after all its only $30 at risk and I cant go on trading like this. That’s the kind of head trip you will face with a small account. Now I am taking it easy for a few days I only did 5% a day the last 2 days:D I know 20 days and 200 trades are not really enough to say something works when it comes to FX but its enough to let me know I am on the right track.
So if you start small don’t force it and take time off to cool down if things are not going your way. A few days off will hurt less than some really bad trades.
Edit >> BTW this was by no means my first account and I am trading a strat I have been working on for some time so don’t expect you first try to have growth like that or get to where profitforextrader is in a month and a 1/2.
I started with demo USD3000 and lost about 2000++, not until I realized my methodology was not the cause of it, rather it was my money management that was the problem.
I decided to start a live account with USD250 in Jan 2010 and started trading with 0.01 lot size (run for 30-60pip t/p and s/l). Each trade profited about USD2.00 to 6.00.
At the rate of 78.32% winning trades, I made 132 trades till date (19th Feb 2010), my account became USD537.46 and that is more than double!
I guess it was an useful lesson and the key to trading forex is to be CONSISTENT and being able to SURVIVE in the market for long. 
Well, it is up to you how you do it or everybody else. I just don’t share your opinion. If you read through the forums, there are a lot of account blowers with micro accounts and/or not enough money.
I don’t know about the noise of the other currencies, but eurusd, which I trade since 3 months (demo, EAs and live together) and watch since 20 years has so much noise that you can even easy lose with a wider stop of 50 pips. If you put in account 200 bucks and you have 4 losses, its over. Also look for today how that usd spike did shake the eurusd price down and up and down again in the 70+ pip range. I had 2 orders and one gave me a loss of 40 bucks just because of this spike. If you set your sl too tight, the trade can’t breathe. I coded also some EAs and all show me they get way better results with a risk level of 100 and more pips. Not to say you can’t trade with a lesser risk level, but then the opportunities shrink to a few and even this is still no warranty that your sls will not be hit.
I started with a 4 digit account, now in the 50% range profit zone after around 20% down after loss trades and 40% down while the trades were still in action. Probably nothing anybody should do if he has a weak heart. I confess it was not based on the system, but I guess sooner or later every trader tries some new trading styles as newbie and if you have no buffer money then, you can say good bye to your account.
Plus honestly, I am asking myself what reason anybody should have to work hard and gain only a few bucks a week or month. If you want to become a serious investor/trader, then it needs hard work. I’d lose my passion after a while, if I would not get reasonable money from it and just continue with my other investment opportunities like commodities and shares. If you buy a krugerrand or something like that you do not have any work and after a couple of years you probably have a good profit. Well, even for this investment you need money in the 4 digit range.
The point is: Money likes money and if you have too less then the money looks for ways to go to the bigger boys. If I’d have just 200 bucks of free money I’d just go to a movie sometimes or out for dinner. As I said, personal preference of course. Seriously I also can’t understand why so many investment newbies start with forex at all. It took me several years investment in shares and commodities with a strong bank background (I worked there) until I looked for a high risk investment like forex. All what I do now and even this is hard work are based upon the experience of those investments. In my understanding, before anybody uses high risk investments, he/she should invest in a safe low risk basement. That’s like build a house: If you do not have a good basement, just a small storm might blow it away. The house may exist for years and the weather might be good, but if a storm arrives, the house is not there anymore.
Same with luck. People might have look for a couple of weeks or even months and then the market changes and all is gone. I red something in the newspaper that many many lotto winners get as poor as before after a year or so. It also needs tight money management and all this stuff. Forex is, even for me, a time and energy consuming case. I wouldn’t do that for a couple of bucks profit. Plus I am not a dreamer to believe I could build an xxxxx account out of 200 bucks.
At least I see no reason to pay 50 bucks or so for money transfer forth and back fees to the broker, if I put in only 200 bucks. That’s a ridiculous expensive fee of 25% and at least you have less than 200 bucks in your account then.
But if you believe you can do it, go ahead and tell me your system, if it works.
[quote=“Buckscoder”]
I don’t know about the noise of the other currencies, but eurusd, which I trade since 3 months (demo, EAs and live together) and watch since 20 years has so much noise that you can even easy lose with a wider stop of 50 pips. If you put in account 200 bucks and you have 4 losses, its over. Also look for today how that usd spike did shake the eurusd price down and up and down again in the 70+ pip range. I had 2 orders and one gave me a loss of 40 bucks just because of this spike. If you set your sl too tight, the trade can’t breathe. I coded also some EAs and all show me they get way better results with a risk level of 100 and more pips. Not to say you can’t trade with a lesser risk level, but then the opportunities shrink to a few and even this is still no warranty that your sls will not be hit.
[\QUOTE]
The way that looks is you’re on a standard account. If using proper MM, even a 200 pip loss could be just $2 (mini accounts).
Keep in mind what I’m suggesting for new people is getting the FEEL of a live market. There are things like slippage, requotes, latencies to live servers etc that you’ll just never find on a demo account. The small amount one deposits should be disposable income one can afford to POSSIBLY lose.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being a dreamer. I’ve got a goal, and I intend to reach it. Hopefully I can make you beleive it is possible. It comes with time.
[quote=“soul786,post:11,topic:32073”]
Nope. A mini account with 0.1 lot means 1 pip = 1 usd.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with dreamer.
Of course I agree. Of course as well I just don’t like to be one.
I’ve got a goal, and I intend to reach it. Hopefully I can make you beleive it is possible. It comes with time.
Time is a key factor. Anyways, there is a reason that the babypips school and anybody else with proper knowledge mentions proper amount. Not to say you can’t break the rules, if you know what you are doing. 100% have sort of strong goals with forex. 95% or so lose. I say: Look down before you look up. That’s what I do before I enter a new trade or any investment opportunity.
Among the experience of live account I agree, somewhat. It depends of the trading style. If you intend to scalp I agree more, if you are a swing trader like me, it doesn’t matter. I also don’t file any order in my life without stoploss. So, pending orders are not subject of requotes.
Anyways, to test a system a demo account is a good option. If you have enough money to blow several accounts with 200 bucks just to get the heartbeat feeling I just ask myself why not start with proper money then. Because I could argue, it is another case if you trade with 200 bucks than with 2000 bucks. Emotion related.
One last word: My opinion, of course, and nobody has to share it. Goals are a good thing, but I think of a trader and markets more like a fisher and the sea. The sea gives you what the sea wants to give you. If you try it too hard, you might become the food of the sea, boat included.
Not in my IBFX mini account… 0.1 lot = $0.10. I trade it regularily.
I like the analogy with the fish and the sea. Thing is, I use my lifejacket and caution when fishing
Hmm, that’s new for me. Usually a standard is 100.000 usd a lot. /10 is a mini and /100 is a micro. If that is true, they must have another leverage in use which makes it a micro account and their micro a nano.
I like the analogy with the fish and the sea. Thing is, I use my lifejacket and caution when fishing
Well, don’t get me wrong. Do what you want, I just have my strong investor and banking experience. I wish you many successful trades!
Well being a ‘mini’ account, it’s set up so that 1 lot is actually like a mini lot to a standard account. 1 lot in a mini account is 10000 in size, thus 0.1 lots is 1000.
^^ Just for anyone else who comes across this and gets confused there’s the clearup.
This kind of performance is, for me as a newbie, a source of motivation
I hope you don’t mind if I ask you… I’m getting started, no real money yet, and I keep reading over and over again about the importance of the psychological aspect of trading, with some people telling that is even more important than the analysis i.e. If you have a mediocre system but decent money management, and have mastered the psychology of trading, you’re very likely to make money
Was this true for you? Was there an “eureka” moment where you realized this? Did you have control of your emotions from the very beginning? Or do you think the psychological aspect is overrated?
LOL! Yeah, when I started, I felt like a herring in a sharks basin, ha ha. Now that I have increasing profit, decreasing losses, I feel like the fisherman. Sometimes having a herring in my net. Sometimes my net is broken and some herrings went back to the sea. Sometimes a shark is found and I have plenty of food. Sometimes a shark attacks my net, trying to steal all herrings. But I give him only a few and then a push on his nose.
Hi guys!
I started reading about forex a couple years ago. I opened a demo account, made some trades, and then i opened a live account with US$ 250. I lost it all, so I returned to demo. 
After making a plan, having a system and everything else, this year i opened a live account with US$ 3000, the first week i went down 25%. After that I started to win 4-5% in a week, which was my goal. I´m pretty happy now, and have lost the fear to trade real money
My ponit is that it doesnt´matter the size of your account. You have to be willing to lose some money first, there´s always a cost. If you open your first live account, put some money that you don´t need. That´s the price you have to pay in order to be profitable. Nothing is free.
The most importance thing is to always follow your rules. When you open a real account for the first time, yo lose your money beacause you let your emotions take control of it.That´s ok, you learn from it. The next time you will do better.
Psychological aspect is so important, SO important! Is not overrated at all. Once you understand that losses are part of trading, then you start to make money. But as I said in my preview post, there is a cost.
My “eureka” moment was when I went down 25% of US$ 3000 live account. I asked to myself: What was I doing wrong? There is no difference between my method in demo and live account! So the problem was me, I wasn´t following my rules. I let my emotions take control of myself. It was my money, real money and it hurt everytime it went down. When i decided to commit to my trading rules, then the winning trades started to increase, and i realized the losses were part of trading.
I would suggest that yoo start trading with some real money now (US$ 500 maybe or US$ 1,000 if you have them and dont need them). If you have a system and a plan, and it works, then try! Maybe you will lose everything, but that is the cost you have to pay to learn how to deal with your emotions. If you stay in a demo account for years, then you will never now
I agree in full with the psycho aspect. Think like this: If every trader who lost his account would have decided to go the opposite way with his trades, he would be a winner. People are their own worst enemy.