From $5000 to Trading for a Living. Is it possible to?

[algofy]

Oh bullroar. If you were truly old-fashioned you'd still have your Compaq luggable.

I guarantee that keyboard is much better to type on than the pieces of shit they produce today.

 

[Overnight]

Hell of a thing to use it in a library. You get lots of looks and "shhh!"ing.

 

[mbondy]

Yes, it's possible if you know your craft, can keep your losers small, and are satisfied with a couple hundred dollars on winning days.

 

[speedo]

Oh bullroar. If you were truly old-fashioned you'd still have your Compaq luggable.

Whoa...choice rig dude.

 

[Zodiac4u]

Hi all, This is my trading journal. Welcome!

Let see what you do on Demo first?

 

[Overnight]

Whoa...choice rig dude.

Fuggin' A. When the Zombie apocalypse comes, what you going to crush their skulls in with? A 2-ounce Chromebook with a processor that is as thin as a hair follicle, or a 35-pound CRT surrounded by steel and a 386 chip that needs a fan as large as your face to keep it cool?

 

[speedo]

Fuggin' A. When the Zombie apocalypse comes, what you going to crush their skulls in with? A 2-ounce Chromebook with a processor that is as thin as a hair follicle, or a 35-pound CRT surrounded by steel and a 386 chip that needs a fan as large as your face to keep it cool?

 

[Evermore2017]

I say that if you are a good trader with lots of experience, you can make a living with about 50,000 USD in your account.
So if you start with a 5,000 USD account you would have to grow it first to about 50,000 USD, which will take plenty of time, unless you take crazy amounts of risk. Even if you are extremly good and make no big mistakes, it might still take you about 5 years to grow those initial 5,000 USD into 50,000 USD, with which you might then trade for a living.

Why not earn some starting capital with a regular job or some small business ? I see that you are from the US, I guess if you are serious and disciplined you could make those additional 40-50k within 1-2 years, and then you could start trading for real, without the problem of being completly undercapitalized.

I agree, I think 30k minimum and 100k ideal.

 

[Peter10]

I agree, I think 30k minimum and 100k ideal.

the capital you need depens on your average trading return (in %) per month.

 

[schweiz]

I prefer to give an answer that is based on real calculations. This is the only way to imagine exactly how difficult it is.

If you trade futures ES with your $5000 capital and use a margin of $2500 you will have to make 1 point net every day (total of the day) to make net $402,300.
If you make 1.25 points net every day (total of the day) you make net over $1,000,000.
Of course we speak about compounding.
And the ultimate question is: can you make the needed points every day in a consistent way?