Is $5,000 enough to get started with trading?
- Thread starter icantoday
- Start date
my opinion is you can make a living trading with 5000.00, if you can read the charts and patterns and have the ability to wait for the set ups that you know work, set stops and get out
if you go to a prop firm that gives 4-1 all day long you get 20,000.00 per trade
trade 7-10 stocks and trade 2000-2500 shares at time
take .04-.06 and get out, unless you see you get more
set a daily goal, not to get rich but to make a living at first, and see how many trades you need to make to get to your goal
if your goal is 300.00 aday, then trade for 50.00 profit and do 10 trades a day, it safer and you get out faster
20.00 a trade should cover your commission, if it doesn't go for 60.00-10 times
you can answer your own question by downloading the das trader on this thread and trying to see if you can
they will give you 100,000.00 buying power on paper, but only use 20,000.00, learn the charts and patterns and trade the account like it was your money at risk, don't screw around with it because its paper, take it serious because when its you money it will be
you can sign up for 7 days but you can resign after it goes down for another 7 days and another, if you won't take the time time to do this when its free in your hands then you probably won't have the disipline to trade and you will lose money
you have to know why your buying and when your selling, and in my opinion, you have to know charts and patterns
Well, If its any comfort, at least you (they) have ET. 
Michael B.
Michael B.
i FOUND THIS WHEN I WAS LOOKING AT SWIFT TRADE TONIGHT AND I THINK IF YOU FOLLOW THE PATTERN IN THIS PARAGRAPH , YOU CAN MAKE A LIVING AND EVENTUALLY DO WELL, JUST MY OPINION, BUT IF YOU PICK ON THE SAME LIQUID STOCK EVERYDAY, YOU WILL KNOW IT BETTER THAN CHASING EVERY STOCK OUT THERE, YOU WON'T NEED TO PICK OFF EVERY SPREAD JUST THE ONES THAT OFFER A TRAGET THAT WILL HELP YOU REACH YOUR GOAL
So, what exactly is proprietary trading?
Simply put, SwiftTrade's Prop Traders are employed to trade a company's capital on the stock market. Traders are equipped with state-of-the-art computers and software that allows them direct access to the markets via a number of Electronic Communications Networks, or ECN's. Traders will generally buy and sell one security (stock), making lightening fast decisions in a matter of seconds to capture the "spread" or the difference between asking price and the bidding price of that security.
How does it work?
Each Trader is connected to a Market (NASDAQ, NYSE, etc.), and trades a single stock. Traders have three basic resources on hand to make lightening-fast buy and sell decisions:
The Level II Window: This window shows the size and value of all the bids and offers (in left and right columns, respectively) on a particular stock, top-down from highest to lowest. This allows traders to see what every other trader is bidding, or offering. When a trader puts in a bid or offer, it will appear on this screen. Watching a Level II screen on an active stock is spectacular, with buys and sells happening in less than seconds.
Charting: The charting window shows the progressive ups and downs of a stock's price, as well as the volume (number of shares) traded. By watching charts, traders can pick up on patterns than aid in making buy or sell decisions.
The "Squawk Box": This is essentially a PA system that connects the trading floor to an actual person, standing on the floor at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where Futures (contracts to buy stocks in the future) are traded. By listening to what other traders are betting on in the long term, stock traders can get a better idea of what the price of the underlying stock will do in the immediate future.
Sound crazy? It is. It is quite possibly the most exciting job around.
$5000 is enough to start trading with IF you know what you're doing. If you don't, your "hard-knock" education is going to cost you a LOT more than that.
About location: I trade and teach from Israel. Market hours here are 4 pm to 11:15 pm. Not a big problem. There are many other traders here doing the same.
All the best,
Phil
About location: I trade and teach from Israel. Market hours here are 4 pm to 11:15 pm. Not a big problem. There are many other traders here doing the same.
All the best,
Phil
Transact Futures
Transact Futures
5K is plenty to trade anything. Is it enough to last for a year trading? I doubt it.
Rich, if it's enough to trade, why shouldn't it last? UNLESS the trader has no education. But in that case, even ten times the amount won't last a year!
All the best,
Phil